Wand Among Wings
by Akela Victoire
Summary: Side story/sequel to Specialist Potter. Offered the chance to step away from the war and learn about the magic of Tir Nan Og, Hermione grabs it. She learns about more than just magic; along the way, she's forced to examine the true nature of knowledge, friendship, courage, and even herself.
1. Chapter 1

**Four years, ladies and gentlemen readers.**

 **Today marks four years since I posted the very first chapter of Specialist Potter, so I thought it fitting that I post this side story/sequel on the anniversary.**

 **I felt that Hermione's tale** **as it relates to this story simply couldn't go unwritten as it had so much potential. There was so much of it, that if I had written it into Specialist Potter, it would not even have been finished now, nearly seven months after its completion date.**

 **Obviously, spoilers for Specialist Potter abound in this story (starting from Chapter 53 of that onwards), so I highly recommend reading that first.**

 **Ready? Let's go!**

* * *

Darkness completely surrounded her, trapping her within it as she wandered aimlessly.

"Hello?" Hermione called out. "Is there anyone there?"

After hearing no answer, she sighed.

"It feels as if I've been in here for ages," she spoke, feeling frustrated. "I need to get out of here. Wherever _here_ is. I'm not exactly sure of that..."

Memories began to assault her.

She had been on the Hogwarts Express with Ron, Neville, Ginny, Luna...

Then came the horrible screams.

High pitched screams of pain and terror filled her ears.

"No..." Hermione clapped her hands over her ears. _"Not again!"_ she cried, tears beginning to fall from her eyes.

The more the protested was the more that the horrifying images became clearer.

Bloodied bodies of children, their faces forever frozen in terror; the Hogwarts Express a smouldering wreck of its former self...

She found herself watching as a bystander; watching the very moment when she and her friends had begun fighting for their lives, the images blurring together and overwhelming her, forcing her to her knees as she cried, begging for it all to stop-

 _"Hermione... Hermione, sweetheart, snap out if it!"_

Through all the chaos, she heard a vaguely familiar voice calling out to her.

The voice grew louder and more persistent.

 _"Hermione, come!"_

Hermione fought to focus on the voice calling out to her, instead of the sounds of carnage around her, the latter growing mute as she forced herself to her feet and began to walk again.

After a while, the images around her faded to black and a single, silvery door appeared in front of her, glowing in the darkness.

 _"Come on, Hermione. Open the door."_

Hermione reached out for the doorknob, hesitant.

Taking a deep breath, she grabbed it, opening the door and stepping into what looked like a library.

"What?" Hermione was puzzled. "How did I get here? Where is here?"

 _"You're still fighting, sweetheart. That's why you're here. This is your 'in-between'."_

The voice she had heard from before came from behind a bookshelf. _"It's good to see you again, my darling daughter. I really do wish that it could have been under better circumstances, though."_

It clicked at that moment _exactly_ whose voice she was hearing.

 _"Mum?"_

A woman stepped out from behind a bookshelf, speaking with the same voice as earlier.

"Yes, Hermione. It's me." she smiled at her daughter. "And in case you're wondering, this place took the form of a library, since it's one of the places where you are most comfortable."

"But... but... but you're... does that mean that I'm dead too?" Hermione felt horribly disappointed. There was still so much that she wanted to do with her life!

"You're not dead yet although it's a close thing. From what we saw on the other side, your body is currently fighting very hard to keep itself... to keep _you_ alive."

"I want to live, but what do I really have to go back to?" Hermione asked. "You and Dad are dead, I had the lawyers sell off our home and your dental practice, I'm done with my magical education and if Voldemort was so bold as to launch an attack like that on the train... he must be in the process of solidifying his hold on Magical Britain right now!"

"You have your friends to go back to, for one. I really didn't think you would be the type to just give up, Hermione Jean. You never were," the older Granger noted wryly.

"You're right," Hermione agreed. "Things aren't over yet. Harry needs me! His new friends and training aside, he'll still need all the help he can get to fight Voldemort!"

"There is the Hermione that I know!" Dr Granger chuckled.

"What about Dad? Why isn't he here too?" Hermione asked.

"One greeter at a time, darling, that's the rule. He said to remind you that he still loves you _very_ much, even from the other side. He also said to remind you to remain strong, fight for what you believe in and use that amazing intelligence of yours for good!"

Hermione smiled weakly as her mother hugged her tightly and kissed her lightly on the forehead.

"Thanks, Mum. Make sure to tell Dad that I love and miss him too."

Dr Granger smiled back as she stepped back a bit to get a good look at her daughter.

"It's time for you to make your choice, darling." she inclined her head towards two doors that had formed behind her. "The left door will take you on to the next life. The right door... you will be going back to more pain and more loss; however, you will be able to continue living your life, shaping it to be what you want it to be. Going back to those who need you _now more than ever._ "

"The choice is obvious then, isn't it?"

Hermione paused, then nodded. "I guess it is. No, I _know_ that it is."

She stood up straighter as she walked towards her chosen door.

Just as she turned the doorknob, she heard her mother's voice calling out to her: _"Your father and I do not want to see you back here for many more years, do you hear me, Hermione?"_

As she stepped through the door,Hermione chuckled.

Even in death, her mum was being a typical mum.

* * *

As soon as Hermione started to open her eyes, she felt as if the Hogwarts Express had crashed straight into her.

She ached all over and when she tried to move her hand, it refused to co-operate.

She blinked, her eyes blinded by the bright lights and groaned.

Hermione could hear voices around her, but none of them were clear, all sounding mushed together, leaving her unable to distinguish the words.

She could sense that the activity surrounding her seemed to increase however, as it all sounded more urgent than it had before.

She felt something touch her arm and a tingling sensation spread through it and continued through her body, before everything faded away again.

* * *

The next time she awoke, although she was still very much in pain, she was also much more aware of her surroundings than she had been before.

She realised where she was; in a room at St Mungo's.

 _Oh._ So she _had_ survived, after all.

There was something else to add to her list of near death experiences- which were increasing at an alarming rate...

Looking around the room, she noticed a dark haired figure sitting some distance away, fiddling with an old magazine, although clearly not reading it.

 _"Harry?"_ she managed to croak out, her voice sounding quite unlike her own.

"Hermione?" Harry nearly tossed aside the magazine and moved over to her so quickly, it appeared as if he had Apparated. "Hermione, you're awake again, thank goodness! The Healers said it was touch and go and you weren't awake much the last time-"

"Slow down, Harry. I'm not going anywhere," Hermione chuckled, but immediately regretted it as he chest began to hurt.

"Are you okay? Do you need any more painkiller potions?" Harry asked her, looking ready to dart out the door and grab the nearest Healer.

"No, no. Stay. _Please._ "

Harry nodded, before going for the chair he'd been sitting in earlier and pulling it up closer to her bed.

"I'm here. I'm not going anywhere unless you want me to." he promised her.

" _What happened?_ No... don't answer that. I know what happened... how long was I out?" she asked, almost not wanting to know the answer.

"It's been a few days. After the Death Eaters attacked the Hogwarts Express, they brought most of the survivors here. Though some of them didn't survive for very long after they arrived..." Harry said.

"I... I told the Healers about Crookshanks when... I got here, before I passed out..." Hermione wheezed a bit as she spoke.

"I got him, don't worry." Harry reassured her. "He's at The Burrow, safe and sound. I got here when they were sorting out personal effects and claimed him and your other things on your behalf. They know me and they know that I'm your best friend obviously, so they let me take your things. I'm afraid your wand is lost, though."

If she could have, Hermione would have waved him off impatiently. "Wands can be replaced. That doesn't matter. What about Ron, Ginny, Neville, Luna? How are they doing?"

At this, Harry's face fell and Hermione's heart nearly stopped.

"Harry... _what happened?_ " she asked, not sure if she wanted to know the answer. "Did one of them die?"

Harry looked down at his feet and refused to look her in the eye.

"Harry... who did we lose?" she asked softly.

"I'm so sorry that I couldn't get to save him on time..." Harry spoke just as softly, his voice quivering slightly.

A dreadful feeling started building in her stomach, as if she would throw up.

"Was it Ron..?" She dared to hope, but then Harry confirmed her worst fear by nodding and the world seemed to fall out from beneath her-

"She said there would be more loss, but _Ron?_ " Hermione's voice quavered.

Harry looked briefly puzzled at her use of the word _she,_ but he quickly shook it off as he put his hand on top of hers. "I know. We always thought that if any of us were to die, it would be me..."

She and Ron had finally begun dating after all these years (simultaneously making and breaking people's pockets as they betted on the outcome of their relationship to her annoyance and Ron's amusement), only for it to end like this...

"Harry, can you leave please? I need... I need to be alone for a bit..." she fought back the tears threatening to fall.

Harry looked as if he didn't want to leave her, but he nodded.

"I... I can come back tomorrow, if you like. I need to go back to The Burrow and be other places, sort things out, you know?" Harry smiled sadly.

"I understand, Harry. Go on..." Hermione smiled weakly.

Harry leaned down to give her a light hug, before leaving the room.

It was only after he had been gone for several minutes that she let herself cry.

* * *

The next few days flew by in a blur.

She had still been too unwell to attend Ron's... funeral in person, so Harry had set up something with the technology he had brought back with him from Magix so that she could be there virtually, even from her hospital bed.

It was also from there that she said her piece about Ron's effect on her own life, drawing many attendees to tears.

Voldemort had seized the Ministry of Magic building and was closing in on several important Wizarding institutions, so she and Harry had decided that she would leave St Mungo's as soon as she was able, which was today.

She was still sore all over and liable to nausea, bouts of dizziness and flashes of pain, but she would be okay in the long run, most of the damage to her having been done by flying debris rather than curse damage.

"Are you ready?" Harry asked her as soon as he stepped into the room.

Hermione nodded.

"I'm ready, Harry. I need to get out of here, get better and keep on fighting." she vowed. "I promised that I would."

Harry nodded.

"Alright then." Harry took the few possessions she had with her and shrunk them for travel, before putting them into his pocket.

One hand around her shoulder and another hand with his wand outstretched, he created a portal and guided her through it.

* * *

Actually seeing Ron's grave had been a shock to her system.

Harry had left her alone to have her own little talk with Ron as he stood some distance away, wand in hand, just in case.

"I'll miss you so much, Ron," she sniffled. "I know I can be strong and I know that time heals, but... I never expected any of us to actually _die,_ you know?" she laughed without humour.

"I guess I was rather silly about that, wasn't I? _He_ would have targeted any of us three for obvious reasons..."

She wanted to say more, but she couldn't seem to find the right words.

Instead, she took the wreath that Harry had conjured for her and laid it gently above where his head would be.

Getting up slowly, she turned and walked back to Harry.

"We can leave now." Hermione took a calming breath. "I've said what I can."

Harry nodded, conjuring up another portal to take them back to The Burrow.

* * *

She and Harry sat in the room that she shared with Ginny at The Burrow, the other girl somewhere downstairs with her mother.

"It feels so awkward being here without Ron, you know?" Hermione voiced her thoughts. "Ever since the troll incident during our first Halloween at Hogwarts..."

"An odd way to start a friendship, but yes..." Harry chuckled. "It's been the three of us for a long time..."

"But with everything that's happened over the past few days..." Hermione sighed, looking down at her feet and clenching her fists. "I feel so weak, feeling like this. Normally, I feel so strong, but now... How do you deal with this sort of thing, Harry?" she looked back up, looking her best friend in the eye.

"Sheer determination, I suppose. I'm not exactly the best person to talk to about handling feelings well..." Harry shrugged.

Hermione giggled, before they fell back into an uncomfortable silence.

"So... Ron's gone..." she finally broke the silence.

"Yes. Yes he is." Harry said.

"My parents are also gone..." Hermione continued.

"Unfortunately..." Harry nodded.

"There's one last Horcrux out there..."

"Also rather unfortunate..."

"I've finished my magical education and there's nothing really left for me here..." Hermione sighed sadly.

"Not to mention it not being safe here now, especially for you and other Muggle Borns. It's already obvious that things aren't safe for me..." Harry shrugged.

"What the bloody hell am I supposed to do with my life then?" Hermione asked.

"You'll find something. You could go abroad and live in either their Magical or Muggle communities. You did well at school and made a name for yourself there. I'm sure that you could-"

"It's not just that, Harry. I've lost a lot that I've cared about. My parents, my boyfriend, other friends... I honestly don't know how you dealt with all of what you've been through. I'd have gone spare by now if I were you..." Hermione admitted.

"I..." Harry fell silent once again as she watched him, apparently falling into deep thought.

She glanced back down at her fidgeting hands.

 _"Hermione?"_

Harry's tone made her sit up straighter, wincing from a flash of pain in her side as she did.

"Yes, Harry?" she looked back at him.

"How would you like to go back to Tir Nan Og with me?"


	2. Chapter 2

Hermione stared at him for several seconds, not quite comprehending what she was hearing.

Did he just-

"Me... _me_ go to Tir Nan Og with you?" Hermione stammered once she had regained control of her thoughts. "You actually want me to come with you?"

"Well, who else would you go with?" Harry asked cheekily. "Obviously I want you to come with me!"

Hermione resisted the urge to retort, instead settling for rolling her eyes.

"You can be such a prat sometimes!" she said, patting Crookshanks idly when he jumped up onto the bed and curled up on her lap. "What I mean though... would I really be welcome there? What could I do with my life there? It would be so different to what I know..."

From what she had heard and what little she had seen, Tir Nan Og was so different to what she already knew... then again, learning that she had magic in the first place before she went to Hogwarts having previously been ignorant of it... _maybe..._

Harry started on her, asking her about her Gryffindor courage, reminding her that the hat had to have placed her there for a reason, despite _really_ wanting to put her into Ravenclaw.

"I'm not like you, Harry! I can't just jump into situations without just thinking about it!" she glared at him. "I'd have to think about it first!"

"Please do. You'd be safe there, there's plenty of opportunity for a bright mind like yours there... and then there's the fact that Queen Nebula and Princess Morgana have both expressed the desire to meet you personally."

Hermione looked at him in complete and utter disbelief.

 _"Why would they possibly want to meet me?"_ she thought, before actually speaking that thought aloud.

"Are you bloody kidding? Of course they do!" Harry exclaimed, before listing off several reasons why they would want to meet her.

Hermione continued to stare at him in disbelief as he went on, counting off each reason on his fingers- until he ran out of them.

"...the queen would love you for the fighting part and Roxy's mum would love someone who could hold up in an intelligent debate with her." Harry finished.

"And I suppose you can't?" Hermione teased.

"Not _nearly_ as well as you could." Harry retorted.

Hermione chuckled.

They continued to talk for a while about other things that Harry had told them about her, as well as what he knew about them, before the room fell into silence once again, punctuated by the occasional purr of Hermione's feline, content in his place on her lap.

Her thoughts were racing, going through each possibility as quickly as they came up.

This would be a valuable opportunity for her.

She'd completed all the magical education she could get from Hogwarts after all, so there was no longer any reason for her to consider that, plus with all the attacks in recent days including the one on the Hogwarts Express...

It really wasn't safe for anyone of her heritage to remain in Britain right now, despite how much she would have wanted to otherwise...

Plus there was the fact that being in Tir Nan Og and by extension, Magix had done so much for Harry and not just in the way of all the magic and combat skills he was gaining...

He'd become more confident in himself; more comfortable in his role as a leader, not to mention even his grades and social skills seemed to be benefitting...

It did him well.

Perhaps it could do her well too...

After a while, she composed herself and spoke again.

"When do you leave?"

"Two more days." Harry answered.

Hermione paused briefly.

" _I..._ I'll let you know my answer by the end of tomorrow."

A quick answer _was_ important, but she needed a little time to go over this.

She was sure that she would end up saying yes and going with him in the end, but still.

It wasn't a decision to be made lightly, after all.

"Great." Harry took her hands in his, smiled encouragingly and squeezed them. "Take your time. I _know_ you'll make the best choice for you in the long run."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, Harry. Your being there and in Magix seems to have really done well for you. You've changed _so much-_ and that change was for the better. You've grown smarter, stronger, more confident... Voldemort won't know what's hit him in the end." Hermione smiled back, truly meaning what she said as she took in the sight of her best friend.

"I bloody well hope so!" Harry agreed, laughing. "Anyway, I have to go make a call. Roxy's no clingy girlfriend, but she's threatened to come over here and find me herself if I don't let her know how I am at least once a day while I'm here..."

"I can't blame her, given the current climate in Magical Britain..." Hermione said, understanding the animal fairy's concern. "Now go. I really want to meet the Tir Nan Og fairies, but not when they're..." she trailed off, the idea of a bunch of angry fairies rivalling her terror of Voldemort briefly.

"Yes, I understand. I completely get it." Harry stood up. "I've seen them angry before and while they weren't angry at _me,_ they were still bloody terrifying. You'll be fine though. _I promise._ "

Harry stood up and left the room, leaving Hermione to dwell in her thoughts as Crookshanks snuggled further into her lap.

" Well, Crookshanks, I've got an important choice ahead of me. I know I'll say yes, but I just wanted to go over it a bit first. Maybe some will think of it as me running away from my problems, but I'm thinking of it as a chance to properly pull myself together and learn things that would give me a proper fighting chance, you know?" Hermione patted his head lightly, Crookshanks letting out only a small meow in response.

* * *

"Harry, I've decided. I'm coming with you."

Those were the first words out of Hermione's mouth when she saw Harry the next morning.

"And good morning to you too, Hermione," Harry raised an eyebrow at her.

 _"What?"_ Hermione asked, seeing the look on his face. "When have you ever known me to dawdle when it comes to important decisions?"

Harry blinked.

"Point taken," he shrugged. "you're sure though? You don't want to stay here and help how you can?"

"I'll be able to help if I learn more things that I can use to help," Hermione pointed out. "I've seen what your magical inter-dimensional travels have done for you. Can you really blame me if I want to experience the same?"

"No. Not in the slightest," Harry agreed.

"Anyway, most of my things are already packed and ready to go at a moment's notice, whether it's because of me going with you to Tir Nan Og... or other more unpleasant reasons." Hermione glanced out a nearby window, as if expecting Voldemort himself to appear on the other side.

"That's Hermione Granger for you. Always prepared," Harry chuckled.

"And don't you forget it!" she exclaimed. "When _do_ you plan on leaving, anyway?"

"I was going to wait until tomorrow to give you a chance to make up your mind, but you've already made it up, so we can go later today. There isn't much that I can do around here right now, honestly," Harry shrugged.

"True," Hermione said. "Is there anything else that I can do to prepare for the trip? I'd really like to be fully ready. Fully prepared."

"Didn't you just say a few minutes ago that you were already prepared?" Harry asked.

"Yes, but I need to be _sure..._ "

Harry rolled her eyes. "You've done all you can. You've tied up loose ends left by your parents' estate and with all of that, you don't have to do anything to protect them seeing as they've already passed on..."

Hermione fought down the urge to start crying. She _refused_ to turn into a fountain of tears. They would _not_ want her to be like that.

"You've concluded your magical education here, you have all the belongings you care to with you here all packed up and ready to go, you even have Crookshanks with you and all he needs is to be put in a carrier for the trip. Tough little bugger he is. Where is he, anyway?" Harry looked around, as if hoping to see him.

"I left him dozing on the bed. He was too adorable to wake up." Hermione smiled.

"Your definition of adorable and my definition of it are obviously different," Harry chortled. "Good to see you smiling though. We still have some time before the others are up for breakfast. I think I'll go start something so that Mrs Weasley doesn't have to work so hard this morning."

"Since when do you cook?" Hermione raised an eyebrow.

"Since I was old enough to reach the top of the stove at the Dursleys'," Harry looked indifferent as he referred to his time with his last remaining relatives- something which was always rare, since he never liked talking about them.

"But that's in the past now and we've got bigger fish to fry!" he spoke up quickly upon seeing the look on her face, which she was sure looked like a cross between revulsion and pity.

"I think I need to see this for myself!" Hermione followed him into the kitchen.

"Fine, but you're not to help me. _You'll just watch._ " Harry insisted.

"As long as you don't look to be about to burn down The Burrow or chop off your hand" Hermione teased.

"Have faith, my friend." Harry chuckled as he took stock of what he had to work with, before assembling everything he had chosen to work with from the lot. "I know what I'm doing. If you can trust me enough to follow me through all the nonsense I went through during our Hogwarts years, you can trust me to cook a delicious breakfast. This is much less dangerous."

Hermione giggled. "If you say so Harry. If you say so..."

* * *

Harry had managed to whip up some bacon omelettes, toast and had a big cauldron of porridge simmering when the rest of The Burrow's occupants started trickling into the kitchen.

Hermione enjoyed the looks on their faces when it clicked in their heads who exactly it was that was producing the delicious smells.

"Oh, Harry!" Molly started up. "You shouldn't have! I'd have been down here soon enough to do all this!"

"It doesn't matter, Mrs. Weasley. I enjoy cooking and I don't get to do it often. It was no trouble," he reassured her.

"Really, it wasn't any trouble for him at all, Mrs Weasley!" Hermione piped up. "I was in here the entire time and he didn't slip up once! I think you're... we're all in for a treat this morning!"

"And I think that that's the porridge done," Hermione watched as Harry checked the porridge again and seemingly found it satisfactory.

Once everyone was in the room and seated, he began serving the breakfast, finally allowing Hermione to help him with that task, she doing it by hand and he using magic to do the same, much as Mrs Weasley normally would.

As Hermione finally sat to eat, she lost herself in the food for a bit, letting herself enjoy Harry's surprising culinary skill for a bit and taking her mind off the bigger problems they all had to deal with.

Fred and George were in top form, making jokes about Harry's cooking, before they too, finally quieted down to eat.

There was very little chatter as they all ate and not much more as all the things were cleared away, cleaned and returned to their usual storage spaces.

After breakfast, everyone left the kitchen for a while to try and catch up on what was happening in the outside world; making contact with friends, Order members and various other people they knew in order to get a handle on the situation and determine what they wanted to do moving forward.

It was after lunch that they finally got around to talking about it and sharing what they had found.

Percy and Arthur spoke of what they had learnt about the fate of the Ministry of Magic.

Each word out of their mouths made Hermione more and more pessimistic about the future of Magical Britain.

Bill spoke up next, talking about the various protections that Order members were in the process of using to protect themselves, their families, and as many people as they possibly could.

From there, they all tossed up some suggestions, with Harry offering a few pointers from the things he had learnt while in Magix and she suggesting some rarer protective spells she had come across in her research.

"Well, then," Ginny glanced at her, after declaring her own intention to join the fight against Voldemort as best as she could (much to Molly's dismay). "Hermione, are you going to stay? It's going to be even worse for you than it would be for us for obvious reasons. I mean, if the rumours about this 'Muggleborn Registration Committee' are true, plus with you being a known close friend of Harry's..."

"I'm going to Tir Nan Og with Harry later. I know I'll be safe there and I'll learn _so much..._ " Hermione spoke up. "To help both myself and..." she looked down at her feet nervously.

"We know, dear." Molly smiled at her reassuringly. "We _know..._ "

Ginny nodded. "I understand. Maybe someday I'll travel with you two there as well, when this is over. Hopefully the queen will have me."

"Perhaps she would. She has expressed interest in meeting some of my friends at some point. When this is all over, most likely..." Harry said.

"Well, there's something to look forward to, isn't it?" Hermione smiled weakly. "Stay safe in the interim, don't you..."

Hermione glanced at Harry and he inclined his head towards the door.

As she and he stood up, he reminded them of their travel plans and they excused themselves from the table to make sure everything was in order for the trip.

* * *

Hermione glanced out the window, taking in the mid afternoon scenery sadly.

She was finally about to leave and she didn't know when she would see it or the rest of Britain ever again.

Or that if she returned, it would still be here...

She shuddered at the thought.

Sighing, she knelt down to give Crookshanks one last rub before coaxing him into his carrier, the feline being more cooperative in that regard than usual.

"I guess you get how important this is, don't you?" she cooed at him when she lifted the carrier and checked to make sure it was secure.

Crookshanks merely meowed at her in a manner that Hermione imagined was rather resigned to his fate.

She chuckled.

"Okay then." she took a deep breath as she gathered up all her packed belongings. "Time to go, Crookshanks. Harry should be ready by now..."

She met Harry at the top of the stairs and they went down it together and headed straight outside, where the Weasleys were waiting to say their goodbyes.

Fleur greeted her first while the twins reached Harry first.

"Bonne chance, Hermione. I know you can do eet. I know we didn't get along much at first..." Fleur looked a little ashamed.

"I know." Hermione smiled weakly. "I guess it was a clash of personalities but recent events really put things into perspective. You're really not all that bad."

Fleur smiled back.

Next, she talked to the twins.

"Well, Miss Granger,"

"Off to the land of fairies aren't you?"

"Try not to spend all your time in their library,"

"There must be plenty of other things there besides books!"

Hermione rolled her eyes as Fred and George alternated their lines.

She was engulfed by Molly next, who gave her the tightest hug she had ever received.

"Do what you must, my dear. I can't stop you," the older woman looked ready to burst into tears again and it was this that nearly set Hermione off.

When Ginny moved over to her and gave her a hug to rival her mother's, they both burst into tears.

"This is all just so stupid," Ginny said, sounding frustrated through her tears. "All of this. Everything!"

"Understatement of the century," Hermione muttered.

They broke apart and took a few seconds to compose themselves.

"It's going to take a lot more than Bat Bogeys to beat the Death Eaters, you know." Hermione smiled slightly, bringing up Ginny's signature spell from school.

"Oh, I know. I've been doing whatever practice I could on the sly, from what I learnt in our study group, to things that would probably be in the Restricted Section..." Ginny's expression looked briefly terrifying.

"Cast those as well as you do that hex and Harry's not going to have much Death Eaters to cut through to get to Voldemort..." Hermione noted.

"That's the idea."

All too soon, all their goodbyes were said and Harry walked over to her, putting his arm in hers.

"Ready to go, Miss Granger?" he asked her.

"I certainly am, Mr Potter." Hermione said.

They turned one last time to wave to the Weasleys before they stepped through the portal.

* * *

The sensation of passing through a portal was entirely new to her and felt quite different from the Apparition that she had learnt.

For one thing, the portal offered a much smoother ride.

There was no feeling of being squished through a tube or feeling dizzy enough to be unsteady on her feet.

Instead, it felt to her like she was walking through a ray of pleasantly warm sunshine.

While it _felt_ better than Apparition, however, she still gripped Harry's arm tightly; unused to this mode of travel and hoping that it hadn't gone wrong and would deposit her somewhere other than their intended destination.

Her eyes had also been closed the entire time and she only opened them when she felt the magic of the portal stop.

There were no words to describe the beauty that she was seeing.

"Wow..." she looked around, doing her best to take in everything around her as the breeze ruffled her hair.

"It's a beautiful place isn't it?" Harry smiled knowingly at her likely awestruck expression. "Just wait until you see Magix though. It's a completely different environment, but just as amazing, I think..."

A new voice spoke from behind them, making her turn sharply to see the speaker.

"Ah, Harry. Welcome back. I see you brought your friend with you..."

Dear, sweet Merlin.

It was Morgana herself.

The same Morgana she had heard about only in stories and then in Harry's tales about meeting her...

The former queen smiled at them both and asked for an introduction which Harry gave.

Hermione bowed respectfully.

Morgana tapped her shoulder and motioned for her to get up.

"Rise my dear. Harry can call Dobby to put your things in the room I have assigned for you. I would actually love to have a chat with you now."

 _"Wait... I have a room assigned to me in the palace itself for my entire stay here?"_ Hermione's eyes widened. _"She actually wants to have a chat with me_ _ **right now!**_ _"_

"Let us go and have our chat. Plus you picked a great day to arrive as we have guests coming that I'm sure you would be delighted to meet..." Morgana put a firm hand on her shoulder and turned them in the direction she wanted them to go.

 _"Calm yourself, Hermione. You've faced lots of dangerous situations and met lots of famous people before. You're famous yourself, too. It isn't like you to be like this!"_

 _"But you aren't a figure of legend are you?"_ a voice in the back of her head spoke up. _"And these fairies have so much knowledge and magical secrets that they may be willing to share with you if you play your cards right. You deserve to be excited about something for once!"_

Hermione snapped out of her wandering thoughts when Morgana waved her hands and teleported them inside the palace itself.

"There are many ways to enter the palace, and that was just one of them," the older woman smiled. "Only direct members of the royal bloodline can enter the palace directly via magic, however, so that is just myself, my sister and my daughter. We can however, bring along whoever we please, such as how I just did with you. That's your first bit of Tir Nan Og trivia, directly from me."

Hermione nodded as she listened to the former queen, taking in the sights around her.

"Now, let's head onto the meeting room, shall we? As I said, we have guests here and I'd love to talk to you some more before I introduce you to them. Follow me." the former fairy queen motioned for Hermione to follow her down a corridor.

Hermione straightened herself up and followed.

She could do this.

She had handled much worse than this, after all.


	3. Chapter 3

"Please, have a seat." Morgana gestured to the chair on her right as she sat at the head of the meeting table.

Hermione did so.

"Well, well, well. Miss Hermione Granger. I have heard many good things about you- most of them from Harry, but your reputation precedes you."

 _"Oh?"_ Hermione found herself raising an eyebrow. "May I ask what sort of reputation that might be?"

Morgana chuckled. "You may. You have nothing to worry about, however. That reputation paints a picture of you being the brains behind Harry's escapades during your Hogwarts years and you being the brightest witch of your year, coming out on top overall in your classes for every single year that you were there. If your NEWT results were actually available, I am certain that you would have obtained an 'Outstanding' mark in each one."

"Thank you Your Highness. I do love to learn, so my marks are a side-effect of that. I have been told that I can get a bit _too_ overeager about that sometimes though." Hermione admitted.

"There is never anything wrong with wanting to learn as much as you can in your life. One day, I shall introduce you to Fabula. She is a wonderful fairy and was in charge of our library before the war with the Wizards of the Black Circle. She too was imprisoned and managed to survive, reclaiming her role after the Wizards' defeat. I think you two would get along quite well."

"So she runs your library? When can I see it?" Hermione asked eagerly.

"In due course, Hermione. You will have plenty of time to see it and explore it. I will introduce you to her- and others- when you are properly settled."

Hermione nodded in acceptance. That sounded reasonable.

"Besides your intelligence, I have also heard of your bravery and your tenacity. All of those traits combined into one individual would make for quite the formidable individual indeed."

"Well, the Sorting Hat- the object that decides what House we'll be in while at Hogwarts- wanted to put me into the House that is known for its intellect, but decided on the one that is known for bravery instead..." Hermione explained.

Morgana raised an eyebrow. "For your bravery to outrank your obviously high intelligence... I think I will enjoy getting to know you."

Hermione could really say nothing else to that.

"So..." Morgana conjured up some teacups and a teapot, motioning for Hermione to serve herself while she did the same. "Tell me about yourself. Besides the things that I've already told you that I know."

Hermione paused to think for a few seconds. What exactly does one tell someone like this when they ask you to tell them about yourself?

Perhaps because this was an entirely new experience for her that she could never see coming (even after first discovering that magic was real after all despite not believing in it for most of her childhood), but she hadn't found herself speechless in a long time...

She took a sip of the tea, which, while she found it pleasant to taste and quite soothing, was not a flavour she had ever had before. Was it indigenous to this realm?

"Well," Hermione finally spoke up. "before I found out that I was a witch, I was growing up in Britain- England, if you want to be specific- like a normal little girl, with normal parents and a normal life. My parents were dentists from before I was born up until the day that they were murdered in Diagon Alley nearly two years ago..."

Morgana smiled encouragingly.

"Even when I was little, I loved learning. I loved reading. I was quite advanced amongst my peers and always used to do better than they did when it came to school. What I didn't do better in were my social skills though, so I often rubbed them the wrong way. I didn't have friends before Hogwarts because of it. There _were_ those that I got on okay with and was polite to, but... it never made it to the level of friendship." Hermione took another sip of the tea.

Morgana nodded. "I understand. Were you made fun of because of that?"

"Somewhat, but it wasn't as horrible as it could have been." Hermione shrugged, indifferent. She had gotten over that a long time ago.

"What about when you discovered that you were a witch? How did you react? How did your parents react?"

As Hermione spoke, she found herself growing more and more relaxed in the presence of the former queen.

She was easy enough to talk to, in the sense of when she used to go talk to some of her Hogwarts professors.

Not _too_ personal (there were things that she would still hesitate to talk about with anyone besides Harry), but comfortable enough to trust.

She wasn't a snobbish royal at all, quite unlike what she was afraid she might be.

As for being terrifying, she could see the potential for it, but as long as it wasn't directed towards her, she'd be okay.

Queen Nebula on the other hand... from what she'd heard of that particular royal, she seemed like someone who would be a bit less easy to talk to... although since Morgana wasn't like what she thought she might be, who was to say that she wouldn't be the same?

She soon got started on the Hogwarts chapter of her life, talking about her first impressions of Hogwarts life and what it was like before she finally gained friends in the forms of Harry and Ron.

Hermione had just finished the story of the troll incident before Morgana cut her off.

"I'm sorry Hermione, but we must stop here for now. As I said before, we have important guests here today and one of them is standing outside the door right now. We can always speak more at another time."

"It's okay, Your Highness. I understand." Hermione nodded.

Morgana smiled at her again before flicking her hand and causing the meeting room's doors to swing open of their own accord to reveal another woman standing there, this time a darker-skinned woman with dark brown hair and dark blue eyes.

"Ah, Aisha!" Morgana stood up to welcome the latest arrival. "How did things go? Where is Queen Ninfea?"

"She had to head back to Pixie Village to take care of some things. She sends her apologies to both you and Nebula." Aisha said.

She turned her gaze to Hermione, who was watching her. "And who is this other guest of yours?"

Morgana inclined her head towards Hermione, as if giving her permission to speak.

Hermione sprung to her feet. "My name's Hermione Granger. I'm a friend of Harry Potter's. He invited me to come stay in Tir Nan Og with the permission of its royals." she held out her hand for a handshake and Aisha took it; shaking firmly.

"Oh, yes! He's Roxy's boyfriend, isn't he? I met him once- at the Young Royals gala. He's coming along on this Pixie Village trip with us too. I'm Aisha, by the way, though I guess you've gathered that by now. Crown Princess of Andros (though that doesn't really matter here right now) and member of the Winx Club."

"Charmed." Hermione smiled. "So, what exactly is this Pixie Village anyway? Where I come from, pixies aren't very pleasant creatures at all!"

 _"Really?"_ Aisha raised an eyebrow, taking a seat on Morgana's left as the former queen indicated. "That's interesting. I'll have to check that out some time. I think it would be something Bloom would be interested in too- having grown up on Earth and her magic not being detected by your kind of witch and wizard..."

Hermione perked up. "That's true! She and Roxy did grow up in the same town in the United States, didn't they?"

Aisha confirmed it.

"Then that means that they should have been detected by MACUSA and offered places at Ilvermorny!" Hermione said. "Then again, perhaps not. They weren't witches in _any_ sense. They had a totally different kind of magic, after all. One that they would not have known how to detect and track when they didn't even know that that kind of magic existed at all... It's certainly something to look into. Perhaps a trip to the U.S. would be in order. I think I'd want to check this out myself someday- _after_ Voldemort is dealt with, of course."

She snapped herself out of her thoughts to see Morgana and Aisha staring at her.

"MACUSA? Ilvermorny?" Aisha looked puzzled.

"Sorry," Hermione looked sheepish. MACUSA stands for The Magical Congress of the United States of America. They're the governing body of all magical beings and beasts in the U.S. Ilvermorny is their school of magic- like how Hogwarts is to Britain."

"It's something that interests me as well. I too, will be looking into that at a more appropriate time." Morgana said.

Aisha helped herself to some of the tea. "So, Hermione, how would you like to come to Pixie Village with us? That is to say, Roxy, Harry and I? Ninfea- she's the Queen there, won't mind if I bring someone else along..."

"Sure! I'd love the opportunity to see yet another magical world- and so soon after getting to Tir Nan Og too!" Hermione said. "Ron would..."

Her mood immediately fell and apparently, so did her expression, as she could hear Aisha asking Morgana about him as she turned away to compose herself for a bit.

Aisha's expression was one that wasn't of pity (she was grateful for that) but seemed to be one of understanding.

"I too, lost the love of my life to dark wizards," the other woman's expression was softer as she spoke. "It drove me over the edge and I was in a dark place for a long, _long_ time. It was with the help of my friends that I managed to pull myself out of that dark place and put myself on the path to healing. I know you have Harry and you seem to get along with Roxy well enough, but if you ever want to talk to someone that knows what that feels like, you can always get in touch with me. I know you've just met me and all so it might come off as strange for you..."

Hermione considered it.

It wouldn't hurt to make another friendly contact in Magix, would it? It certainly wasn't as if she _had_ to tell the Androsian princess everything right away- if at all...

"Why not?" Hermione smiled weakly, offering her phone to Aisha to programme in her details, the Androsian princess handing over her own phone in exchange.

Aisha smiled reassuringly at her, before checking her watch.

"Ninfea said that things should be ready by now. Will you get Roxy and Harry up here, please?" she asked Morgana.

The former queen nodded, before closing her eyes and seemingly concentrating on something for a few seconds.

She opened her eyes and then nodded to Aisha. "They will be up here soon."

"Excuse me, but what exactly was it that you just did?" Hermione asked.

"It's one of the many Mind Arts that I know. Projecting your thoughts directly into the mind of another. I've recently started teaching it to my daughter." Morgana explained.

Hermione was extremely interested, mentally adding it to the list of things she wanted to learn while here. "Is it a hard skill to learn?"

"It _can_ be very difficult and it takes a lot of discipline and patience to learn the correct way. You may sit in on lessons with Roxy when I teach it to her and if I see that you have the right... _personality_ for it, I will teach you."

She'd been in Tir Nan Og for less than a day and yet this was all happening.

A former fairy queen who happened to be a living legend wanting to _personally_ teach you something was just not something that happened every day.

She vaguely wondered if this was what Harry felt like if something incredible (in the positive way) happened to him.

The sound of laughter interrupted her wandering thoughts.

"Morgana, I think you broke her." Aisha laughed.

"I don't think so," Morgana chuckled. "She's been through quite a lot of things that would break a normal person. She wouldn't break _that_ easily."

"I'm glad to see that you think so highly of me!" Hermione joined in the laughter.

"I heard about your adventures a lot. Since your friend Harry is getting famous in our world, his tale seems to come up a lot and your name comes up with them. Tell me; did you really fight off a troll in your first year of magical education?" Aisha asked.

"No, that was Harry and Ron, really. I was too busy panicking to do anything. That event, above all others, was what solidified our friendship." Hermione explained, weaving the tale for them.

"That's quite the way to make friends..." Aisha looked stunned.

"What can I say?" Hermione shrugged. "I spent the rest of my years with Harry there trying to keep him and Ron out of trouble. I can't say I always succeeded. Trouble always used to find us every year. Or rather, it found Harry and dragged all the rest of us along for the ride..."

"Just like the Winx Club- even before I was a part of it. They'd always get themselves into all sorts of problems in their Freshman year and when I came along, I got dragged into it too." Aisha smiled. "I don't regret it, though. It provided some much needed excitement in my life and gave me five great friends that I'll _always_ be able to count on."

"If those aren't the epitome of fire forged friendships, then I don't know what could ever be..." Morgana mused.

A few minutes later, as Hermione was telling them about some of hers and Harry's most notable professors, Morgana paused the conversation once again, letting them know that Harry and Roxy had arrived.

All three women looked up when the pair entered the room.

"Well, Roxy," Morgana said by way of greeting. "I must say that your boyfriend has a rather interesting friend in Miss Granger here." the former fairy queen smiled.

Aisha snickered.

"What does she mean by _interesting?_ "

Hermione watched Harry turn to his girlfriend worriedly and had to fight back her own snicker.

"Nothing to concern yourself about too much, Harry." Hermione smiled at him sweetly. "It wasn't anything _too_ bad..."

Judging by the look on Harry's face, her words did nothing to alleviate his concerns.

Morgana soon dismissed them, wishing them well.

There was a brief sad moment when the former queen mentioned her own bonded pixie, who, while Morgana never outright said it, was implied to have been killed by the Wizards of the Black Circle.

That moment however, quickly passed and soon it was time for Hermione to discover yet another new magical world.

She, Roxy and Harry followed Aisha outside of the palace, to the designated transport zone and with a wave of her hands, Aisha conjured a portal and ushered them all through it.

* * *

As soon as she stepped out of the portal, Hermione spotted what could only be the Pixie Village in the distance, a collection of extremely small, brightly coloured buildings, all seemingly decorated as if for a special occasion.

"Looks like they've decorated for a party!" she commented.

 _"They have!"_ Aisha exclaimed. "They've been waiting for Roxy to come visit for a long time now! The youngest Earthling fairy- and the princess of Tir Nan Og at that, given everything that happened? They'd consider it a cause for celebration!"

"So... this is all for me?" Hermione glanced over at Roxy, who had spoken, the animal fairy looking stunned.

"Pretty much, yes." Aisha answered with a grin.

As they got closer to the village, six small figures with wings flew at them rapidly.

They all went for Aisha and despite being quite small, nearly bowled her over with their combined force as they all clamoured to hug her.

They, Hermione noted, being creatures that looked quite a lot like normal human beings, were it not for the glimmering wings on each one's back.

Ah.

So _these_ must be the kind of pixies they were talking about.

They didn't look nearly as vicious as the ones she was familiar with...

Once they all broke apart, Aisha began introducing them.

Chatta, a blonde pixie with her hair in pigtails and apparently no concept of voice modulation whatsoever, flew over to Harry, going on about the many things she had heard about him, even declaring that she heard that he was a 'big time hero' back home.

"I wouldn't say that..." Harry looked ready to blush.

"Stop it, Harry. She is _right,_ you know." Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Big time hero, defeater of dark wizards..." Roxy looked Hermione in the eyes as she spoke and the two of them burst out into giggles at Harry's disgruntled expression.

"Perhaps it was a mistake to introduce you two..." he muttered.

That only made them giggle even more.

* * *

A few minutes later, they had entered Pixie Village proper and had received warm welcomes from everyone present, who seemed genuinely happy to meet Roxy, Harry and herself.

After that, she immediately headed over to the snack area, eager to try some of the unfamiliar treats.

After examining something that looked like some kind of purple pudding, she decided to help herself to some, not regretting her decision in the slightest as the flavour hit her taste buds.

"This is amazing! I wonder what's in it!" she exclaimed.

"Trade secret!"

A red-haired pixie flew over, looking proud of herself. "Hi there, Hermione! I'm Caramel, the most talented baker in the village! I'm always glad to see someone that enjoys my cakes!"

Hermione smiled as she took the treat and sat atop a nearby rock.

"Is it always this colourful here?" she asked.

"Oh, it is!" Caramel nodded vigorously. "This is how it always is! Except for the party decorations, of course..."

"Which _I_ helped with!" a blonde pixie standing atop a floating envelope glided over, followed by a few others.

"Livy here. I'm the Pixie of Messages! Any message you have to send, no matter what it takes, I'll get it there!" she puffed up her chest, looking proud.

Another pixie, dressed in a jester's outfit flew over and told a joke, which had Hermione cracking up before she even knew that pixie's name.

"Excuse me, I think I want to try something else from your treats table..." she excused herself from the small crowd of pixies that had gathered to talk to her and went back towards it.

Kneeling down to take a cupcake from it, as she got back up, she locked eyes with another pixie, who had been flying towards the table to get something as well.

The cupcake fell from her hands, caught by a swift Livy, but Hermione didn't notice.

This pixie was the most _adorable_ looking little thing she had ever seen and _nothing_ else mattered.

Light, reddish-brown curls were pulled into pigtails which fluttered behind her as she flew over, her blue eyes making four with Hermione's brown.

Completely in a daze, she reached out to pull the smaller being in a hug; the pixie hugging her cheek as she snuggled her closer.

Holding her gently outwards to get a good look at her, she beamed.

"Why, hello there, you _adorable_ little thing! I'm Hermione. Who are you?" her voice matched her dazed expression.

"My name is Camilla. And you look adorable too!" the pixie said. "I'm so glad to meet you!"

"I'm glad to meet you too!" Hermione smiled back.

The pixie flew out of her grasp and sat on her shoulder.

It was only then that her mind cleared up and she was able to think straight.

"What... what just happened?" she wondered aloud.

"That was you and Camilla bonding, Hermione." Aisha spoke up, drawing Hermione's and Camilla's attention. "And your bond was pretty unusual. Not bad, but unusual."

"How so?" Hermione raised an eyebrow.

"I'll explain as best as I can later. Why don't you continue to enjoy the festivities for now and we can talk when I take you and the others back to Tir Nan Og?" Aisha suggested. "Roxy's bonded with a pixie too. Why don't you go talk to them?" she gestured to Roxy and a purple-haired pixie, who seemed to be shifting between several different costumes, making Roxy laugh.

In other circumstances, Hermione might have pressed for an answer right then and there, but she let it slide.

Partly because she was in such a good mood and partly because she didn't want to push her luck, especially so soon after arriving.

* * *

 _The countdown begins to my birthday! The next update is scheduled for it, exactly a week from now! Please review!_


	4. Chapter 4

_**Happy Birthday to me! Have an update to celebrate with me!**_

* * *

Later that evening, after they had all returned to Tir Nan Og from their eventful trip to Pixie Village, Hermione found herself in her room (they actually gave her a proper room of her own for her entire stay here!), introducing Camilla to Crookshanks.

Hermione knelt down to Crookshanks' level and urged Camilla to come out from behind her, the young pixie looking rather afraid of the half-cat, half-Kneazle.

"Come on, Camilla! He won't hurt you!" Hermione reassured her. "Crookshanks, _play nice!_ "

Crookshanks simply stared down the pixie, completely still and not making a single sound.

"He looks kind of grumpy..." Camilla commented.

"Come, pet him!" Hermione moved closer to the feline, motioning for Camilla to do so as well. "He likes being scratched behind the ears. Try that!"

Camilla reached out hesitantly, lightly scratching Crookshanks behind the ears.

He began to purr and relax, curling up so that Camilla was snuggled against him with his bushy tail.

Hermione giggled. "I think he approves!"

Camilla started giggling as well, batting away his tail, which was swinging against her face. "It tickles!"

"He does that to me sometimes when I'm not awake quickly enough to feed him," Hermione shook her head. "tickles me under the nose while I'm fast asleep to get me up. It works every single time..."

Crookshanks stood up and stretched, before suddenly batting Camilla up onto his back with her tail.

Ignoring the startled squeak from her bonded pixie, Hermione raised an eyebrow at the action.

"Crookshanks, I didn't think you were the type of feline that would want anything on your back. Even a pixie as cute as Camilla..."

Crookshanks looked at Hermione as if she had lost all sense.

It was amazing how much her pet behaved so humanlike at times...

Hermione sat down on the edge of the rather plush bed, watching cat and pixie play together, as if they were old friends.

There was one of her immediate worries solved.

The other thing that bothered her was the fact that she had bonded to a pixie despite not being a fairy and not being recently descended from one.

At least, not that she knew.

Aisha had brought that up as a possibility, having heard tales of unusual pixie bondings.

Could it be that she wasn't really a witch, but a fairy channelling her magic the 'wrong' way?

If so, why hadn't the Wizards of the Black Circle come after her?

Or perhaps she was descended from a fairy several generations back, with magic deciding to resurface in her generation in its current form with her as its newest wielder?

Or she could just be an ordinary wanded witch with some proclivities for fairy magic, which was what the magic of the bond picked up on?

Harry was a regular Earthling wanded wizard after all and _he_ had managed to pick up on and perform several types of magic from Magix...

The possibilities were endless.

She looked forward to researching it.

Though, of course, that pursuit would remain second priority until Voldemort was defeated.

There was plenty of magic that would be useful in that regard here for her to learn and she'd be damned if she forgot about that, even with the excitement of just _being_ here.

* * *

"Good morning, Hermione." Morgana greeted Hermione in a corridor of the palace the next day, having, to Hermione's knowledge, returned to her Gardenia home for the night with Roxy.

"Good morning, Your Highness. How are you doing this morning?" Hermione queried politely.

"I'm doing well. And yourself?" Morgana smiled.

"Quite fine, thank you."

"Good, good. How is Camilla? It would be fine for her to come along with you today, if she wishes to." Morgana glanced around, as if hoping to see the young pixie.

"She and Crookshanks are sound asleep in my room. They had a bit of a late night, playing together. They're actually getting along pretty well!" Hermione was rather pleased with that fact.

Morgana chuckled. "That sounds like Zing and Artu, although when I left Gardenia, they were both already up and about for the day, having their fill of food with my husband and daughter. Anyway, back on topic. I'm going to show you our library today and introduce you to Fabula. She is expecting us and seems quite interested in meeting you as well. As for your bonded pixie, one of the interesting things is that with _very_ few exceptions, a pixie can find her fairy anywhere and vice-versa."

"So she will be able to join me later when she wants to." Hermione nodded.

"Exactly. Let us not keep Fabula waiting. She loathes it when people are late and it simply won't do for you to get off on the wrong foot with her." Morgana motioned for her to follow, which she did.

* * *

As soon as Hermione crossed the threshold of the library, she felt as if she were in heaven.

Although on the outside, the library appeared to be small, it was actually rather large on the inside.

Being used to what magic could do, this wasn't what had her stunned.

The sleek, mahogany bookshelves stretched from floor to ceiling and there were very few gaps in between the many books there.

She and the former fairy queen walked further inside, across white marble tile, passing several tables, chairs and a few objects Hermione didn't recognise, until they were deep inside.

"Fabula, we have arrived, just as I told you we would." Morgana called up to a pale-skinned fairy with pin-straight, shoulder-length auburn hair, grey eyes and pink and lilac wings, who flew down to greet them from where she had been fixing some books on the higher shelves as soon as she heard the former queen's greeting, the flowing sleeves and hem of her light blue and white knee-length dress fluttering behind her.

"I am pleased, Your Highness." the fairy's tone voice sounded vaguely like Luna's in terms of tone (though with an accent she couldn't place), in Hermione's opinion, although the two females could hardly look any more different (wings not included).

She turned to Hermione. "You must be the guest that she mentioned. My name is Fabula Nikoli. You are Hermione Granger, am I correct?"

"You are indeed, Ms Nikoli." Hermione nodded, still feeling rather amazed at her surroundings.

"No need for such formalities when we are amongst the books." Fabula smiled slightly.

"You will be able to find your way back from here, correct?" Morgana asked Hermione.

"I will."

"Good. Enjoy yourself."

Morgana turned and left them at it.

"Well then. Welcome to the Tir Nan Og library. The public version of it, at least. The royal family has their own collection in the palace itself. Come. Let me give you a tour and show you how things work around here. I understand that you attended a magical school and would have experience with a magical library, but I think that you will find that this particular magical library is pretty different." Fabula led Hermione off.

"First things first: this stand here is a part of our magical search system." Fabula gestured to what looked like a golden podium with its top surface shaped like butterfly wings.

"Really? How does it work?" Hermione asked.

Fabula stepped up to it and held a hand above it, without touching it.

"You put your hand on the surface, focus a bit of your magic and speak aloud what you wish to search for. In your case, I assume you use a wand?"

Hermione nodded, but looked sad for a moment as she remembered that she no longer had a wand, telling the fairy so.

Fabula shrugged. "That is not a problem. It will still work for you- wand or not, since you are a magical being. Once you have a replacement wand, you can use that as well if you wish. Let me demonstrate the system."

She put her hand down lightly on the stand's surface and spoke clearly: _"Healing Magic."_

Books from a shelf a few feet away from them and about midway up the shelf in terms of both width and height came floating towards them in a neat line.

Books of varying sizes and colours floated down, stacking themselves neatly on the stand in order of size.

"There we are. All the books we currently have about healing magic." Fabula patted the stack lightly. "If you choose your words carefully, you can get even more specific with searches. For instance, if you wished to look up fairies who had important roles in the development in healing magic over the centuries or how to heal injuries caused by dark magic, you could do so."

Hermione nodded. This way was much more efficient than Hogwarts' system, where one had to look for the books you wanted by hand and could not Summon them.

It did work quite fine for her Hogwarts days, but something like this would have certainly been helpful with certain extracurricular projects she'd done with Harry and Ron in tow over the years...

"Judging by the war currently going on in your home world, you may need some of these." Fabula smiled slightly as she selected a few titles and set them aside, while using her own magic to dispel the other books back to their proper places.

Thinking of the amount of times she, Harry and Ron had gotten injuries of some sort over their Hogwarts careers, plus the grievous injuries that occurred there on a regular basis and what she had seen during a certain incident that was the push for to come here at this point in time...

"There is much more to see in this place, my wonderful, beautiful domain." Fabula's wings flapped slightly as she turned to lead Hermione into another section of the library.

* * *

"This is where I conclude your private tour of my library. Any questions?" Fabula and Hermione ended up at the point of the library that they had started.

"None whatsoever," Hermione shook her head. "your tour was _very_ comprehensive. Thank you so much for taking the time to do this!"

"You are quite welcome, Hermione," Fabula smiled. "Since my home here was restored, there haven't been many visitors to this place. I can tell that you will be a regular, for as long as you stay here, will you not?"

Hermione nodded. "Yes. There is so much here to learn. I'd be foolish not to take this chance."

The fairy nodded. "Well, if you will excuse me, I have some work to do. Many of our books were stolen or destroyed during the reign of terror of the Wizards of the Black Circle and I plan on working to rectify that as best as possible."

Fabula turned on her heel and walked away, leaving Hermione to her own devices.

She headed over to the search stand from earlier and took up the books on healing magic that Fabula had left for her.

"Well, here's a good place to get started, I suppose." Hermione headed to the nearest table and started looking through the stack, before deciding to get started on a particularly large tome with gold font on the front.

* * *

Later that afternoon, Hermione left the library, with the largest healing magic book she had found tucked into her Bag of Holding (along with a few other books that had caught her interest) and Camilla flying close behind, having joined the witch in the library and successfully (despite great difficulty) coaxed her out in favour of getting some lunch.

Once back in the palace, she encountered Roxy in a corridor, with Zing on top of her head, Artu at her side and Harry nowhere to be seen.

Roxy answered Hermione's unanswered question.

"He told me he went to visit some friends of his." Roxy shrugged. "Anyway, I was about to go grab a picnic basket and eat at the beach. I was looking for you to ask if you wanted to come, but I'm guessing you were in the library this whole time, weren't you? Mom said that she might take you there today."

Hermione nodded. "She did. I even took a few of the books with me. As for your picnic invitation, I suppose so. I haven't been to any kind of beach in a long time..." She sighed wistfully.

"Then go on!" Roxy shooed her off. "We can meet back here in an hour! Bring a swimsuit if you have one!"

Hermione raised an eyebrow. "I don't own any. Swimming was never a priority for me at Hogwarts or in general, really."

"No worries. I can whip something up for you. Stella taught me how. It was either I let her teach me or she would have continued using me as a fashion mannequin whenever we were together." Roxy shrugged. "Not to mention it keeps Krystal and Rainer off my backs..."

"Speaking of them, how are they and your other roommates? We haven't spoken since that time in Hogsmeade..." the thought occurred to Hermione and she spoke it aloud. "Come to think of it, I didn't get to speak to you much then either, thanks to Stormy..."

Roxy cringed at the memory. "True," she acknowledged. "We should make up for it sometime. Aisha and Ninfea both said that it would be okay to bring Athena, Anahita, Krystal and Rainer to Pixie Village for a visit sometime. More chances for her pixies to gain a fairy bond, they said. Or should I say, just a bond." the animal fairy eyed Camilla, who was giggling at something Zing had told her.

"We'll make a day of it then, right?" Hermione asked.

Roxy nodded. "Yep! Anyway, back to the original topic! Go get ready for the beach!"

* * *

This Tir Nan Og beach, Roxy explained to Hermione, was one of the unoccupied ones.

Many of the others had their own inhabitants, so basically, Hermione had a choice of different types of beach atmosphere.

If she wanted peace and quiet, go to an unoccupied beach.

If she wanted excitement and socialisation, go to an occupied beach.

Seemed easy enough.

The water was clear and calm, the sunlight making it shine slightly; the sand was almost pure white from the shoreline to where it connected with the forest line behind them and the only sound from miles around were those of a few birds and the noise that they themselves made.

All in all, this beach looked like something out of a luxury vacation magazine and she told Roxy so.

"It does, doesn't it?" Roxy agreed as she started setting out the picnic supplies she had brought along.

Thinking briefly of how she could help, Hermione raised her hand and summoned two large sticks from the nearby forest while Roxy transfigured them into beach chairs, all while the sticks were still in motion.

The two chairs landed on either side of the picnic basket that Roxy had set up.

She nodded in approval.

"I thought you couldn't do magic without a wand!" Roxy exclaimed. "I wouldn't have been able to do it as smoothly as that even with my powers- I still have trouble moving things in a straight line!"

Hermione raised an eyebrow. "Yet you're able to transfigure them into entirely different objects?"

"That's different!" Roxy insisted.

"Well, with regards to doing magic without a wand, I've been practicing and I'm getting better at simple spells," Hermione felt rather pleased at her accomplishment. "and that really _was_ rather simple. I still can't do any high powered spells though, so I really need to find a new wand. _Sooner,_ rather than later."

"Well, that Ollivander guy is here and apparently, he's having the time of his life experimenting with materials that are new to him here. I'll take you to see him someday. Surely he'll be able to help you!"

Hermione beamed. "Thanks, Roxy. That would be very much appreciated. I haven't been without a wand since I first got one."

Roxy nodded. "Anyway..."

She snapped her fingers and both hers and Hermione's outfits began to change.

Hermione felt the swirl of magic around her as her clothes morphed into a simple, one-piece, conservative dark blue swimsuit and her hair rolled up into a big, bushy bun.

 _"Not bad,"_ she thought. _"not bad at all."_

Even the pixies (who had been hovering nearby and having their own conversation while their bonded witch and fairy were talking) had gotten their own little swimsuits, although Artu had to go without one, which obviously didn't bother him.

"I thought you said you were horrible at Transfiguration!" Hermione raised an eyebrow at the fairy.

Roxy merely shrugged as she unpacked the picnic food.

Hermione sat down in one of the beach chairs to eat, Camilla perching herself on the rather broad armrest next to her.

As she ate, she retrieved the large healing magic book from her Bag of Holding and flipped back to a page she had bookmarked.

The book had been written by a Welsh fairy named Ceridwen (was she the same one as in the legends, Hermione wondered) and this particular page spoke of how certain types of evil magic could cause illness.

None of the Death Eaters would know about spells like these... and if they weren't going to play fair with her- especially because of her Muggle heritage, why should she play fair with them?

"Normally when one reads at the beach, it's usually a magazine or some sort of fiction novel, not a giant book like that..." Hermione glanced over the top of the book to see Roxy looking at her oddly.

" _What?_ Can't I relax _and_ learn something at the same time?" she asked.

"Now I understand what Harry said about you..."

Hermione raised an eyebrow. "What _did_ he say about me?"

"That you could be scarily overeager when it comes to reading. He did tell me about a few times where you borrowed books for 'light reading' from your school library- which didn't qualify as light reading at all." Roxy didn't bat an eye as she spoke.

"I think he would do well to remember that I had a hand in his adventures for every year he was at Hogwarts and I'm probably the only person..." Hermione paused. "...only person _alive_ right now that knows him that well."

"We'll have to talk about that sometime," Roxy said. "In the meantime, eat, relax a bit, then maybe you could get a bit of exercise out here. Wouldn't hurt to be in shape when you fight Voldemort, would it?"

Hermione had actually been thinking along those lines as well.

Who knows if there might be a fight with water involved where she'd have to know how to swim to survive?

She _could_ already swim, but she hadn't in a while and was rusty.

It simply wouldn't _do_ to be rusty at a critical point in time.

Plus, this _did_ look like a nice, open place to practice some elemental magic...

"You're right, I suppose," Hermione relented.

Roxy merely smirked and sunk back into her chair, making Hermione roll her eyes as she got back into the book in her possession.


	5. Chapter 5

Hermione was lost in her world of books in the library.

Stacks of books even higher than herself surrounded the table she sat at; even as she did her best at going through all of them and making notes.

With a proper pen and notebook of course- despite her years of magical education at Hogwarts, she still preferred the way she had grown up with prior to attending.

Words flew across the pages of her multi-sectioned notebook as she worked.

In fact, she was so engrossed in her studies that she didn't notice when Roxy approached her from behind and nearly jumped out of her skin when she greeted her.

"My guess is that you were in intense study mode," Roxy noted wryly as she watched Hermione try to pull herself together.

"Yes, I was..." Hermione muttered, before standing up and brushing herself off. "I was comparing the similarities of some of the spells I know with some of the ones I found in this library. Interesting things, really. Some of the spells seem to have the same basic effect, if only with different spell words and/or methods of casting."

"Really?" Roxy looked interested. "We'll have to check that out some time. That's not what I came here for, though. I have an off day from my aunt's gruelling training sessions-" Roxy winced at the very thought, with Hermione shuddering in sympathy as well, hearing of how brutal the fairy queen could get. "and I know you don't have a wand, so I decided to check in with Ollivander and he says that you can come whenever you like for him to outfit you with a new wand!"

"That would be fantastic!" Hermione exclaimed. "Just let me gather my notes and put the books away..."

"No worries. I'll help." Roxy started putting away books both by hand and with magic as Hermione tucked away her notebook and pens into her rucksack.

"Now that that's done..." Hermione spoke as they made their way out of the library. "...Ollivander has been hiding in Tir Nan Og this entire time?"

"Since our army managed to rescue him and others, yes," Roxy nodded. "He was imprisoned in the same place as Dana and a few other people from your world. They couldn't just leave them there, could we?"

"Absolutely not," Hermione agreed. "So... you mentioned on our little beach trip a few days ago that he was experimenting with materials that are new to him here. How does that seem to be working out for him?"

"Well, from all reports, it seems to be working out for him pretty well. We have a lot of the familiar wand woods growing here, but it's the cores that are a different matter. The only core that I know of that he commonly used that's here in abundance is unicorn tail hair. We don't have phoenixes on Tir Nan Og and the dragons... they're just better off left alone..." the Tir Nan Og princess shuddered.

Memories of Harry during the first task of the Triwizard Tournament passed through Hermione's mind, making her shudder as well.

"Anyway..." Roxy started again. "Shall we get going? There are a few other witches and wizards from Britain living in that area too. Most happen to be from the families of those who we rescued from Voldemort's clutches, but there are a few others as well that were either friends with some Tir Nan Og fairies or managed to reach out to us for help."

"I see. Let's get going then. The sooner I get a new wand, the better. I hate not having one. It makes me feel... vulnerable." Hermione admitted.

Roxy put a hand on her shoulder as they stepped outside of the palace. "Well, that simply won't do. You need one to defend yourself and help Harry fight Voldemort. That would be like me not being able to transform. It left me feeling vulnerable as well..."

* * *

"Hermione Granger. I remember you well. An eager young Muggleborn, excited to join our world. Ten and three quarter inches, vine wood, with a dragon heartstring core, as I remember it."

Hermione stood alone in front of him as the old wandmaker sat in a plush armchair set in the middle of a small living room, Roxy having gone to visit someone else in the area.

"I remember you well too, Mr Ollivander. One never forgets your first trip to the wandmaker." Hermione said.

"Indeed," Ollivander chuckled. "And here we both are, in the land of the Earth Fairies; a place I had only heard legends about..."

"Alright then. To the task at hand. The princess tells me that you need a new wand. I will of course, be glad to fashion you a new one if none of the few I currently have will fit you. All the resources here for experimentation... you will be amongst the first to have one of my newest designs."

Hermione smiled. "That's good to hear. I really look forward to it."

"So do I, Miss Granger. Now if you would do me a favour and help me down to my workshop..."

As Ollivander moved to get up, Hermione moved to his side, offering him an arm to balance himself on.

"Thank you. The effects of my stay with the Death Eaters have not yet worn off..."

Hermione nodded in understanding as they made their way into the small backyard and under Ollivander's instruction, she opened a trapdoor in the yard, camouflaged to look like the rest of the ground.

Pulling his own wand from his sleeve, Ollivander wordlessly lit the room they descended into.

It was fairly spacious, with several different tables with various crafting tools atop them as well as trunks and cupboards around.

Two simple wooden chairs were in one corner of the room, next to one another.

He motioned for her to go sit in one of them, while he rummaged around for what he needed.

After a few minutes, he rested a few different boxes on top of the largest table and pulled a tape measure from one of them.

It flew straight towards Hermione, startling her right out of the chair as it measured her all about, just as she remembered it doing in his shop the first time she went to get a wand.

"Now as I remember, your original wand was ten and three quarter inches, vine wood, with a dragon heartstring core... perhaps you will receive something similar today... or perhaps not. Who knows how the will of wands truly works?" he muttered to himself as the tape measure came back to him.

"What would you say are your skills in magic? Practical skills, I mean. What areas of spell casting do you believe yourself to have the strongest talent in?" he asked.

"Well, I was always good with Transfiguration and Charms in school, plus I was never that bad at Defence Against the Dark Arts... I would say that the strongest of the three for me was Transfiguration, though."

"Right, right... perhaps a wood that does well in the hands of those skilled in Transfiguration. To be close friends with someone like Harry Potter, you would have to be a resilient sort of person and as I hear about you, you are a rather focused, strong-minded individual who can be intimidating on occasion..."

Hermione raised an eyebrow. "Why do you speak as if the wand has a personality of its own? I mean, they are inanimate objects, aren't they?"

It was Ollivander's turn now to raise an eyebrow. "Wands _do_ have personalities of their own and they do best in the hands of someone that is compatible with that personality. They are also very loyal to their true owners, which is why you will never have as good a result in spell casting with the wand of another and the same applies if another was to attempt to use your wand as well. There is more to wand making than meets the eye, Miss Granger. It is not just carving wood and inserting a magical material."

His impromptu wand lore lecture only served to pique her curiosity and add onto a list of things that she wanted to research.

"Alright, then. I have selected a few wands for you to try, all of varying woods and cores, of course..." he pulled six different wands from the various boxes and laid them all out on the table in front of him. "Come. You know what to do. You will end up with the wand that feels most comfortable in your hand. The wand that feels _right._ "

"What kinds of woods are these?" she asked as she gazed over them.

"Acacia, Ash, Blackthorn, Cherry, Fir and Walnut." Ollivander answered. "Take your time. Here, there is no rush."

Hermione took each wand up gently in turn and while none of them felt _wrong_ per se, it was the fourth wand she picked up that felt best in her hand.

"What kind of wood is this?" she held it up for Ollivander to see.

"This wand is made from a Fir tree, my dear. Try casting a spell with it. If it does indeed work well, then it is clearly yours and you won't need to try any of the others."

Hermione nodded.

 _"Something harmless, just in case..."_ she murmured.

She raised the wand.

 _"Bulla Accersi!"_

As she cast it, she felt a warm, comforting sensation spread through her wand arm as she watched streams of brightly coloured bubbles of various sizes and even shapes, stream from the wand.

She laughed triumphantly.

"It works well _and_ it feels just like the first time I held my first wand!" Hermione exclaimed.

"It is obvious to see. That is your wand, Miss Granger." Ollivander looked pleased.

Once she dispelled the bubbles, she examined the wand closer, taking in every small detail of it.

It was a bit longer than her previous wand and paler, with the wand's handle carved into a shape that looked like three small spheres stacked one on top of the other, with the very bottom of the handle shaped like a pair of small butterfly wings.

"It's beautiful," Hermione smiled at it. "What's the length and the core?"

"Twelve inches is the length and as for the core... it is a core that I have never worked with before, but Queen Nebula gave me leave to experiment with... _a sliver of fairy dust crystal._ "

Hermione looked startled. _"What?"_

"Oh yes. Since fairies can channel magic through their fairy dust ability alone, the queen gave me some of the crystals she says they have in storage to try making wands for a few of the fairies who prefer using them. If I happened to get a few spare wands out of the lot..." the old wand maker shrugged. "It is not the first time that successful wands have been made from unusual combinations."

Hermione looked at her new wand differently.

She shook her head to clear it. " _Right._ Thank you Mister Ollivander."

"My pleasure, Miss Granger. Feel free to stop in for a chat whenever you are in this part of the island. You seem like someone who can hold a decent conversation."

"I will. I would be glad to learn more about wand lore from one of the experts."

She led him up out of the workshop and back into the house, making sure he was settled before leaving him.

* * *

A few hours later, Roxy found Hermione as she made her way back towards the palace, walking along one of the forest trails.

"Well," Roxy started. "Did you find your new wand? Was Ollivander able to help you?"

"Yes, he was." Hermione pulled it from a wand holster that Harry had given her sometime previously, confident that she would soon have a wand of her own to store in it.

Hermione smiled at her best friend's thoughtfulness.

"It's beautiful," Roxy leaned in closer for a better look, as Hermione turned it around at various angles. "May I... I don't know if it's considered rude or anything to hold someone's wand, but can I hold it?"

"It is considered rude if you so much as touch the wand without permission, far less to try performing spells with it without permission, but since I've given you permission, yes you may hold it." Hermione smiled.

Roxy nodded as she took the wand gingerly, rubbing her index finger across it.

"So smooth... and I guess Ollivander was getting a bit artsy with the handle, huh?" Roxy commented as she handed back Hermione's new wand.

"I guess so. I like it, though. Beautiful _and_ functional." Hermione put it back in its holster.

"Do you have any plans for the end of this week?" Roxy asked her as they began to walk again.

"Probably the usual studying and practicing my magic with my new wand. Why?"

"Well, as you know, Ninfea said that I could bring my roommates to Pixie Village with me anytime. She figures since I trust them enough, it wouldn't hurt to see if they could bond with pixies too." Roxy explained. "They all said yes, though Rainer is still up in the air, since she's not feeling too well. We're just waiting to see if she'll be well enough to come. We could always postpone the trip, but knowing Rainer, she wouldn't let this miss her, even if she were coughing up her lungs..."

Hermione shuddered. _"Fun imagery..."_

Roxy snorted. "So, are you coming?"

"Sure, why not? It wouldn't hurt. Besides, like I said before, I want to meet your friends properly."

"There we go!" Roxy exclaimed. "I knew you weren't as _anti-fun_ as Harry said you were!"

Hermione narrowed her eyes. "He did, did he? His idea of fun is flying at extreme heights at near breakneck speeds on nothing but a glorified broomstick. I don't think he has any room to tell me what fun is."

Roxy laughed.

* * *

Later that afternoon, Hermione sat in her room, showing off her new wand to Camilla and Crookshanks.

"See?" Hermione had performed a few other spells, before finishing off with the bubble spell that she had first tested the wand with. "The wand is beautiful AND it works really well, just as if should!"

Camilla giggled as Crookshanks swiped at an orange, star shaped bubble, bursting it above her head. "I'm glad you found such a nice wand so quickly! Now you can show me all sorts of magic you can do!"

Hermione nodded. "And most importantly, I now have the most valuable magical tool I could ever own back in my possession. I'm much less vulnerable now and I won't have to rely on anyone else to save me if I end up in a magical fight."

Camilla frowned. "That's not going to happen any time soon, is it?"

Hermione sighed. "I _can't_ promise that, Camilla. I promised Harry that I would fight at his side against Voldemort and the Death Eaters. It's the right thing to do. They murdered _my_ parents, Ron, _Harry's_ parents and countless others, so even if I wasn't friends with Harry, my conscience would never be able to let it go if I didn't _try_ to do something about it."

The pixie floated over to Hermione and perched herself on her shoulder.

"I know. I just don't want you to die!" Camilla hugged her.

Hermione hugged her back. "I don't want to die either, Camilla. That's why I'm doing my best to learn and practice all the magic I can from both sides here, so that when the big fights come... I'll be ready."

Camilla simply hugged her tighter.

"How about tomorrow you come along when I go to the outdoor arena to practice some of the more powerful spells I know?" Hermione suggested. "Will that help reassure you that I stand a chance in this thing?"

Camilla nodded hesitantly.

"Great. We'll do that. In the meantime, how about you come to the library with me?"


	6. Chapter 6

Hermione's focus was entirely on her opponent as they circled one another in the Tir Nan Og outdoor arena, wands raised.

Harry smirked at her, but she wasn't about to take the bait.

 _No._

Cool and calm was the way to go.

He was just attempting to rile her up.

Harry had returned from wherever it was that he had been and after talking for a while and catching up (somewhat, as he was still quite mysterious about his whereabouts, to her annoyance) on their various activities, he had suggested that they do a few practice duels from time.

This duel didn't _feel_ like practice though.

This felt like the real thing.

They had both agreed to use _anything_ short of lethal spells in this particular duel, just to test their limits.

She side-stepped a spell with a dark blue light that came from Harry's wand which crashed into the ground behind her, frosting it over slightly.

She ignored the entertained looks from most of the small crowd of fairies (notably Morgana and Nebula), refugees from Britain (and Zing) that had gathered in the arena and the worried expressions of a few (especially Roxy and Camilla) to see what they could do.

Hermione jabbed her wand forward, sending a sickly grey beam of light at him, which he conjured a shield to deflect.

 _"Try again, Hermione!"_ he grinned.

Hermione rolled her eyes.

 _"Aguamenti!"_ she moved her wand in a sort of tilted _S_ motion and a powerful stream of water blasted out of her wand and headed towards Harry, who quickly conjured up a wall of flames around himself, which immediately dried up on impact with the flames, leaving behind a wall of steam, which Harry waved his wand to dispel.

Over the years, she realised that what Harry may have lacked in theoretical knowledge of magic, he made up for in both power and sheer natural talent, which kept them fairly even overall in their skill.

However, she could see and feel that Harry's training at Red Fountain, built on top of his Hogwarts education, was making him into quite the formidable opponent indeed.

His next spell whizzed past her as he recovered from her onslaught; its sheer heat as it barely grazed her side nearly stopping her in her tracks, before she ignored the slight pain it caused and pushed on, showing her stubborn side in refusing to give up.

Her wand was performing quite well for her, despite being both new to her and an experimental wand of sorts that even Ollivander was not yet sure of the particular effects that this wand/core combination would have.

Hermione clenched it firmer; giving it quite the workout for it being the first time that she performed powerful magic with it.

She missed her old wand, but this replacement was _more than_ satisfactory in all aspects.

Feeling the power coursing through her and into the wand as if it was actually a part of her, she upped the ante, firing off several spells in rapid succession, not giving Harry time to go on the offensive again.

"Goodness, Hermione. You're getting better at this!" Harry sounded vaguely surprised, which left her feeling vaguely insulted.

"What? Do you think I just sit around all day and read?" Hermione raised an eyebrow as she shot a spell at Harry's feet, which made the ground reach up and engulf his feet around his ankles.

Before Hermione could get another word out, Harry had already dispelled that spell and fired yet another one at her.

Reacting quickly, her own white light spell collided with his purple one and the two spells collided exactly between them; creating a lighter shade of purple where they met.

A split second later the force of them exploded, sending both herself and Harry backwards and falling onto their backs.

 _"Oof..."_ Hermione groaned as she felt a hand offering to help her up. "Thank you," she smiled at the blue-haired Warrior Fairy that offered her assistance, the fairy nodding in acknowledgement, looking vaguely amused.

Across the arena, she saw Harry being helped up by Roxy, the animal fairy fussing over him.

"I think that we should call this one a draw," Nebula flew to the very centre of the arena, clearly not trying to hide her amusement.

"Good work, both of you," Morgana nodded. "You both will need to work a whole lot more on your duelling skills to truly put Voldemort and his minions down for good, but I think you are well on your way to that."

"And to think, I've only had this wand for three days..." Hermione twirled it and smiled, before casting a few healing spells on herself and stowing it in her wand holster.

"Three days or three decades doesn't matter if the wand was made for you," Harry smiled, having been healed up by Roxy and brushing the dirt off himself. "at least you won't be running away from boggarts now, right?"

Hermione rolled her eyes as Harry chuckled and Roxy and her family looked curious. "Ha, ha, ha. _Very_ amusing. Let's not forget that I know a lot of things about you that I'm sure you'd rather not let people now. _Embarrassing_ things. Two can play at that game, Harry."

It was Harry's turn to roll his eyes.

The crowd soon started dispersing, leaving herself, Harry, Roxy, Camilla (who had perched herself on her shoulder) and Zing (who was currently seated atop Roxy's head) behind.

"So... what are you going to do now?" Roxy asked them.

"I don't know about you, but Camilla and I were planning on spending a nice, quiet evening in our room with Crookshanks. Goodness knows I could do with the rest _and_ I can always do a bit of reading, perhaps a few simple spells as well. I'm still working my way through some of the books I borrowed from the library." Hermione stated.

Harry laughed. "It's good to know that even with everything we've been through, you're still the same Hermione Granger beneath it all..."

"Of course," Hermione put on a snobbish air. "Why should I let a few _insignificant_ Death Eaters change me?"

"You said it, Hermione!" Zing exclaimed, pumping a fist into the air. "You and Harry will get those nasties for sure!"

"Don't forget about me," Roxy piped up. "do you really think I'm not going to help out where I can?"

"You're not going to be in the final fight though," Harry insisted, starting on a line of thought that _he had mentioned to her before._

 _"Oh?"_ Roxy raised an eyebrow. "How are you going to stop me?"

Sensing a brewing squabble, Hermione excused herself and Camilla, moving away as quickly as she could.

* * *

"How likely is it that Roxy will actually listen to Harry and stay out of your war?" Camilla asked once they were some distance away.

Hermione shook her head. "I don't think that's very likely, from what little I know of Roxy... I guess they're perfect for each other that way. Or not... they both can be rather stubborn at times. _Just like..._ "

She felt her mood drop as her mind wandered off to herself and Ron... he had been equally as stubborn as she could be at times...

She felt a pang in her chest, stopping suddenly.

Camilla flew ahead of her, turned around, and put a hand on her forehead.

"You're thinking about Ron, aren't you?" she asked softly. "They remind you of you and him together, don't they?"

"A little, I must admit," Hermione's tone was soft. _"It still hurts."_

"Of course it would. He was your love wasn't he? I guess it hurts to lose someone you love. You love them so much and then they're gone... especially with the way he was taken from you." Camilla smiled sadly.

"That's why all this practice, all this study, getting my new wand..." Hermione lightly brushed her hand over its holster. "...even though I'm scared of what could happen, that's why I have to do all of this. Not just for revenge... but because it's the right thing to do. Justice for _him,_ justice for my _parents,_ justice for _everyone_ Voldemort has ever brought harm to... justice... justice for _**me.**_ "

Camilla hugged her and Hermione hugged her back snugly. "I can ask Amore to talk with you if you want," the little pixie offered. "She's the Pixie of Love, but she's great at handling all the feelings. Plus she's really nice!"'

Hermione chuckled. "I don't think so, Camilla. Perhaps... perhaps I should forget about the studying now and let my brain get a bit of rest, huh?"

"How about instead of you showing me what you can do, how about I show you what _I_ can do?" Camilla suggested. "You haven't seen me use much of my illusion magic yet."

Hermione perked up a bit. "That's right! Perhaps you can teach me a little of your magic!"

"Uh-uh!" Camilla shook her head. "No more studying today! We're going to be doing _fun_ magic!"

"If you insist, sweetheart," Hermione felt her mood going back up slightly.

"Of course I insist!" Camilla exclaimed. "First, we're going to freshen up. Then, we're all going to have some nice, light snacks and tea. Then, we have a little fun!"

At the look on Camilla's face, Hermione forgot all thoughts of bringing back up the topic of the brutal way taking place back in her home country.

* * *

Hours later, Hermione sat cross-legged on the floor, dressed in a tank top and shorts, with her hair pulled into a messy bun.

A steaming cup of the same sort of tea that she had been introduced to by Morgana on her first day in Tir Nan Og, was on a saucer that she had in her hands and a small plate of sandwiches and biscuits was by one leg.

Crookshanks sat next to her, purring softly as he rubbed his head against the side of her other leg and curled in his tail, accepting a small piece of ham that Hermione pulled from one of the sandwiches and offered to him.

She scratched him behind the ears idly.

Camilla flew up in front of them and smiled.

"Welcome to Camilla's Picture Story Time!" the little pixie beamed. "Today, I'm going to tell you all about one of my absolute _favourite_ stories: _The Legend of the Crystal Lake._ "

"Go on ahead then," Hermione took a sip of her tea. "I'm eager to hear it!"

"And I'm eager to tell it!" she exclaimed. "Now listen."

She flew away from her a little bit and turned back to face her direction, closing her eyes as if in deep concentration.

Glowing softly, the lilac light coming from the pixie started to twist and coalesce above her head and got rapidly bigger in size, before it reached a decent size, before turning white, then filling with various images, which remained still on the illusion screen.

Hermione looked mildly impressed.

She would definitely have to see if Camilla could teach her a bit of her magic one day.

"We have a few storytellers in Pixie Village and some that come to us from other places. It is one of those travelling pixies that told us this one," Camilla explained. "Now you are going to listen and enjoy this story! Forget about the bad thoughts for _a little bit!_ I _won't_ have my bonded one depressed or angry _all the time!_ "

Hermione was about to object, but her bonded pixie cut her off.

 _"LISTEN!"_

Hermione immediately shut up.

For such a small, young and (allegedly) timid pixie, Camilla sure was being rather commanding.

Perhaps it was a bit of herself rubbing onto the pixie.

Aisha had mentioned that it could happens that both members of a bond could take on traits of the other with time, but she and Camilla hadn't been bonded _that_ long...

"Now, here's how the story begins." Camilla waved her hand at the screen and the images on it started to move, although they made no sound.

"Once upon a time, in a realm far, far away, there lived a young fairy named..."

Hermione smiled, letting herself get absorbed into the story.

Perhaps she could relax, just this once.


	7. Chapter 7

"Hermione, you _can_ take a break from all this practicing, you know," Camilla said as she and her bonded found themselves at the outdoor arena once again.

Hermione had a rather thick spell book in one hand and her wand in her other hand, as she sat to one side, looking through the book.

"I can't, Camilla. Not until Voldemort is gone," Hermione didn't look up from the book. "I promised myself, Harry and other people I cared for that I would fight until the very end and _'all this practicing'_ is to increase the odds of me actually surviving it."

There were several spells that she wanted to try that she didn't want to take any chances casting indoors and this would be the _perfect_ place to start flexing her magical muscles after flexing her mental ones.

Her first duel with Harry had had her itching to do so and now she was ready to try some of these 'new' spells for herself.

Casting a spell on the book so that it floated in front of her (thus leaving her non-wand arm free), she flicked through the pages until she came to the spell that she wanted to try first.

 _"Energy blasts,"_ Hermione read from the book. "a generic spell that any fairy or witch could perform. Produces a bright beam of energy which can vary in both colour and strength- from pushing back any opponent with the only effect of a strong punch or blowing a wall to smithereens depending on the strength that the caster puts into it. Can also be moulded into the form of spheres, which can be sent in miscellaneous directions at the will of the caster."

"Well then, this one seems simple enough to start with today," she shrugged as she put aside the book and maintained a firm grasp on her wand. "and it doesn't seem like a spell that the Death Eaters would have access to. We have the Blasting Curse that's vaguely similar, but you can't moderate the strength of that spell _at all._ Plus it's nonverbal and I really ought to build up my repertoire of nonverbal spells."

She stood up, pointed her wand straight ahead and focused.

She felt the magic flowing through her and felt the moment that it connected with her wand.

When she opened her eyes after having closed them briefly, the tip of her wand was aglow with a golden brown light.

Hermione smiled as she drew her wand back and jabbed it forward.

A rush of energy erupted from it so powerful that the force of it pushed her back several feet.

 _"Bloody hell."_

Hermione's eyes were wide as she lowered her wand and watched the blast go out into the distance, fizzling out just before it could hit a tree.

She glanced from her wand, to the path the spell had travelled and back again.

"I... I guess I must have put _too much_ power into that..." she looked sheepishly at Camilla, who had flown over to her, her eyes wide.

"Wow. You're _really_ powerful!" Camilla's tone sounded as if she was in awe of the wanded witch. "I mean, I saw you duelling Harry before, but with only you and I here now, I can feel your strength even more clearly. And to actually see you put so much power into a simple spell without even trying..."

"I wasn't even trying to make a blast that strong. If I'm truly that strong, I will need to learn to mediate my strength..."

Taking a deep breath, she raised her wand to try again.

* * *

"Well, Hermione, how are you liking it here so far?" Harry asked her as they walked down the halls of Tir Nan Og's palace.

"I really like it here! I've learnt so much, I managed to get a positively _wonderful_ new wand and that wand is one of the first of its kind that Ollivander has made, Voldemort or his sympathisers can't get to me here..." she made a face. "I just wish the others back home could have had the same choice."

"Me too," Harry fervently agreed. "I didn't want to push it with the queen, though..."

"I agree. In time, if she wants to meet them, then maybe..." she sighed. "I really wish Ron could have been here with us. He would have liked it here, I think."

Harry smiled sadly. "He really _was_ working hard to win you over after I left, wasn't he?"

Hermione nodded, also smiling sadly. "He was. He actually started doing his homework without me nagging him to do it; he was doing better in class, taking his prefect duties more seriously and really doing his best for the revived D.A. I think he finally saw how serious the situation really was..."

Harry looked at her, seemingly studying her expression. "Are you okay, though? I mean, _really_ okay."

"I don't know. I mean, I try to keep myself busy so I don't have to think about it," she admitted. " _Every_ time I'm not doing something, like studying, practicing my magic, duelling with you, hanging out with Camilla and Crookshanks or exploring this island, my mind starts going into some rather dark places..."

"I know the feeling," Harry nodded in agreement. "Sometimes, when I stop keeping busy, my mind starts going back to all the bad things that happened in the past and what I could have done differently to fix them..."

"I guess we just have to keep ourselves busy, huh?" Hermione chuckled without humour.

"I know we'll have to deal with all of this in the end, though. I would normally never consider this- _especially_ while we were back at Hogwarts, but... I think a therapist is in order for both of us if we survive this."

Hermione stared at Harry, surprised at his suggestion, before shaking her head to clear it.

" _When_ we survive this, Harry," Hermione vowed, putting on her best brave voice, although judging by the look on her best friend's face, he didn't buy the act.

 _Figures._

He knew her just as well as she knew him...

" _When_ we survive this, we'll both go to therapists. Whether they're in Magix or back home, we'll find someone objective to talk to and help us with our... _dilemmas._ "

"Dilemmas... that's a nice way of saying that we _both_ have problems that should really be attended to..." Harry's tone was dry as he spoke.

"To help keep my focus, I try to think of what I would like to do with my life after this war is over. Perhaps you should do the same," Hermione suggested. "I plan on doing some travel- both on Earth and in Magix- learning all I can along the way; I plan on studying for a Muggle Law degree back home _and_ I also plan on studying Magical Law as well."

"Tall order, but I know that if anyone could manage that, it's you," Harry grinned.

"Well, I _do_ like travel and if I hadn't been a witch, I'd be in Muggle Law school right now. I always wanted to be a lawyer. I just have to choose whether or not to practice Magical or Muggle Law." Hermione shrugged.

"As for myself, I know I always wanted to be an Auror, but now... I'm not so sure," Harry admitted. "I do want to be an Auror, at least for a while, but I'm not sure that I want to stay an Auror. I can't keep fighting Dark Wizards all my life. Voldemort and the Death Eaters are quite enough for several lifetimes."

Hermione paused in thought.

"Remember how you did so well with Dumbledore's Army?" Hermione asked.

Harry nodded, looking unsure as to where she was going with her current line of thought.

"Yes, but what does that have to do with what we were just talking about?" he asked, removing all doubt.

"Well, you _were_ very good at teaching us in _The Year of the Toad,_ "

Harry snorted at the name she had given their fifth (and his final) year at Hogwarts, when Umbridge had laid down her brand of tyranny.

"so why not consider teaching?" she suggested. "Whether you study for a teaching degree at a Muggle or Magical institution or just go straight in, teaching from experience, you could be really good at it!"

Harry's face seemed to brighten just a little. "Do you really think so, Hermione?"

Hermione took his hands in hers and smiled at him.

" _I know so._ You've given me a lot to think about today, Harry. I thank you for that. I only hope that I did the same for you."

Harry nodded. "You have, Hermione. You really have."

They hugged.

"Now, don't you have some plans with your girlfriend?" she teased him.

"Don't you have some plans with your books?" Harry retorted.

As they burst out into laughter, Roxy came up to them.

"Care to share the reason for the laughter?" she asked, looking amused herself.

"Go on, Harry," Hermione waved him off. "you can tell her if you'd like."

Roxy looked between the two of them and shrugged.

"By the way Hermione, I called up Rainer, Krystal and the twins. They're all available to come here tomorrow and then go onwards to Pixie Village. Would you like to come with us?" the animal fairy asked her.

"Sure!" Hermione exclaimed excitedly. "I'd love to meet them properly. They all sound like an interesting lot."

"That's an _interesting_ way to put it," Harry remarked wryly. "I think calling them merely interesting is an understatement to the highest degree."

Roxy nodded in agreement. "I have to live and go to school with them most of the year. I totally agree."

"Anyway, while you ladies are on your trip to Pixie Village, I'll spend the day here flexing my magical muscle," Harry informed them.

"That's a good thing then, since you don't have any physical muscles at all," Hermione teased.

"Yep. Gotta get to work on that, Harry. Magical muscle is the only one you have," Roxy joined in the teasing, grinning.

Harry's expression looked as if he was dearly regretting introducing his girlfriend to his best friend- and not for the first time.

That expression only made the two girls laugh even harder once they saw it.

* * *

Hermione entered her room, finding only Crookshanks idly playing with an ordinary cat toy, which he immediately batted aside with a paw once he saw his mistress come in.

"And hello there to you too, darling," she cooed, picking him up and holding him like a baby as she lightly scratched beneath his chin.

"You're all alone, huh?" she looked around the entire room Nebula had issued her (small apartment, really), not finding any trace of the pixie. "I guess she's still out with Zing somewhere. I do hope that the two of them are okay..."

Crookshanks started squirming in her arms and she knelt down to let him out of her grasp gently, although he never went too far away from her.

As she started pacing up and down the room, he sat in a corner of it, watching his mistress.

"I enjoyed my little catch up with Harry today, Crookshanks," she spoke aloud. "We've given each other a lot to think about. He even suggested something that I would have never ever thought to hear from him: _therapy._ "

Crookshanks meowed.

 _"I know, right?"_ Hermione chuckled. "He prefers to bottle up his issues until he basically explodes and goes off to do something stupid. That's what got him to Magix in the first place, though, so it worked out well for him... _once._ "

Crookshanks meowed twice this time.

"We decided to focus on our goals for after this war, so we have a motivation to end it. I think that's a great way of looking at it, giving us something to live for, you know?"

Crookshanks walked over and started to rub against her legs, purring.

"Oh, you _are_ sweet," she gushed.

"Roxy also invited me to come along with her friends on another visit to Pixie Village. I'm looking forward to meeting them _properly_ this time."

Crookshanks gave her one last rub, then headed off to his pet bed for a snooze.

Hermione chuckled at her pet.

She walked over to the window, taking in the beautiful view of Tir Nan Og in the mid afternoon as she opened it and let the sun shine on her face.

She took a deep breath in and let it out slowly, allowing herself to simply enjoy this moment for what it was, knowing that sooner or later, her moments would not get as close to peaceful as this was.


	8. Chapter 8

Hermione stood next to Roxy outside the palace the next day, waiting for Roxy's friends/roommates to arrive, fiddling nervously with the ponytail she'd managed to wrangle her bushy hair into.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Zing hovering nearby, talking to Camilla, both pixies _clearly_ excited about their upcoming trip.

She smiled at their antics, but felt another tinge of nervousness pass through her.

She wasn't _nearly_ as nervous as she had been when Harry had brought her to Tir Nan Og and she'd met Morgana and Nebula for the first time, but _still._

She took a deep breath to calm herself.

Since _when_ was she the type to get so nervous at meeting new people?

She wasn't a shy person now and never had been in the past, so _why?_

"They should be here _any minute now..._ " Roxy checked her watch, drawing Hermione out of her thoughts.

As soon as she spoke, a portal opened a few feet in front of them and out stepped a female with long, pink hair that she remembered as being Princess Krystal of Linphea.

"Hello, hello!" she spoke cheerfully. "I guess I'm the first one to get here, aren't I?" the Linphean princess asked, glancing around.

"You are indeed!" Roxy replied just as cheerfully. "Just waiting for Rainer and our _favourite_ green-haired twins right about now."

The next portal to appear transported the darker skinned, darker-haired Rainer there, although the weather fairy looked significantly cranky.

Hermione glanced over at Roxy, who was looking at the weather fairy with a look of pity.

"Still feeling under the weather?" Krystal piped up.

Rainer levelled a glare at the Linphean that would probably kill her if looks could do such a thing.

Hermione heard something muttered under Rainer's breath that sounded like it could be some sort of Androsian swear word.

"I..." Rainer sounded a bit raspy as she spoke. "I wasn't about to miss this for anything. If you thought you could leave me out of this, you were _dead,_ " she paused to glare at Krystal again. _"wrong."_

"You know, you _could_ just let me try to heal you since we're both here right now..." Krystal offered.

"No you can't." Rainer coughed. "This sickness isn't one that can be spelled away. I have to ride it out with the help of certain select medicines."

Hermione knew of such illnesses from Britain (both mundane in origin and otherwise), but curiosity made her wonder what this particular one was. Restraint, however, made her bite back that question and ask another one instead: "Are you sure you'll be okay for this, Rainer?" she looked at her concernedly.

"In a few days. Just have to keep on drugging myself basically and I can't perform any magic myself up to and including transformation or it'll just aggravate it."

Another portal opened just then and they heard the screams before they saw its passengers.

Anahita came tumbling out of the portal with Athena tumbling out on top of her sister and the pair of green-haired twins skidded a few feet away.

"What," Krystal blinked. "did you two just _do?_ "

"Do not blame me," Anahita growled. "blame _this monstrosity,_ "she gestured to her sister. "who I am sometimes ashamed to call my sister. _Even worse_ since she's my identical twin." she scowled the entire time as she got to her feet and used magic to neaten her usually immaculate hair and clothes, scuffled by the tumble she had just taken.

"Don't be such a spoilsport, Ana!" Athena spoke cheerfully as she got to her feet and brushed herself off. "It was just a test run!"

 _"Literally!"_ Anahita exclaimed angrily.

"What did she do?" Rainer asked.

"I took a running leap through the portal." Athena shrugged. "Just wanted to see what it would be like..."

Hermione glanced at Roxy, wondering the entire time as she watched this play out, how the animal fairy managed to put up with antics like these.

"Anahita is usually the one who keeps the rest of us in line when we're at Alfea." Roxy shrugged, answering Hermione's unasked question. "When it comes to Athena however... You get used to this sort of thing all the time."

She waited a few moments for them to calm down, before reintroducing Hermione to her fellow Alfeans.

"Nice to meet you properly," Krystal beamed. "I'm sure we'll get along quite fine!"

"Ignore the annoyingly cheerful flower fairy over there," Rainer rolled her eyes. "She seems nice _now,_ but her laughter is grating enough to trigger a migraine. I think that she does it on purpose sometimes."

"I'm not sure that's how migraines work..." Roxy looked uncertain.

 _"Actually..."_ Athena piped up, clearly ready to show off her knowledge on _exactly_ how migraines worked.

Anahita rolled her eyes and walked over to Hermione, who somehow looked a combination of confused, yet amused by the current conversation.

"Stuff like this happens _all_ the time, Hermione," she sighed, looking very much exasperated. "If you ever decide to spend more time with us in the future, this is the sort of thing you'd have to put up with!"

Hermione giggled. "Trust me, I've had my fill of exasperating situations with the people I went to school with."

Anahita raised an eyebrow. "Well, I _have_ heard of some stories of what Harry used to get up to at your alma mater- he credits you as being the brains of the group, but with the things I have heard, I honestly have to wonder how many of those stories are actually true..."

"Alright then. Let's get going shall we?" Roxy clapped to draw their attention, Zing floating beside her fairy, while Camilla flew over to Hermione, who cradled her in one arm.

Roxy snapped her fingers and a light green portal formed in front of her.

Hermione and Anahita looked at one another.

"I guess we shall," Anahita shrugged. "I am curious to see if I too, shall have a pixie bond..."

She stepped through first, behind Roxy, with Hermione and Camilla right behind her, followed by Rainer, Athena, then Krystal as the portal faded behind them all.

* * *

"It's nice to see you both again, Roxy, Hermione. How are you both doing?"

"As well as I can be, considering my circumstances, Your Majesty," Hermione answered the pixie queen truthfully upon their arrival in her village, where she waited to greet them.

Ninfea nodded knowingly as she turned to Roxy and chatted with her briefly.

Then, she flew over to Rainer, Krystal, Athena and Anahita, who were all taking in their current environment with varied expressions of interest.

Anahita had actually gotten a notebook and pen out of the small, blue handbag she'd been carrying and appeared to be taking notes of some sort.

If she'd t

hought to bring one with her, she would have done the same thing in both instances.

Chuckling lightly, she went to sit under a nearby tree and with a hug from Camilla, Hermione's bonded pixie flew off to join the others.

She was mostly quiet and observant this time, however, and was quite fine with simply taking in what was going on around her.

Ron would have liked it here, she thought.

A bright, cheerful place like this, with lots of friendly faces and good food...

 _The chaos of the battle on the Hogwarts Express..._

One by one, in quick, but intense flashes, the memories of what had led her to be here in the first place without him passed through her mind.

 _The last time she'd seen Ron before they had been separated by the battle..._

She shook her head in a futile attempt to clear it.

 _Waking up from the unconsciousness brought on by injuries sustained from the attack, only to be told by Harry that Ron was gone..._

But she couldn't, she couldn't get those thoughts out of her head-

 _Not being able to actually go to Ron's funeral, due to her injuries..._

She put her hands on the sides of her head, begging for the memories to stop _-_

 _Feeling the despair of actually seeing Ron's grave when Harry helped her get there to see it..._

She felt the tears welling up in her eyes before she could even attempt to stop them.

Hermione got up and scarpered away to a more secluded area of the village and sunk to the ground beneath another tree, taking deep breaths in an attempt to calm herself.

"Hermione Jean Granger, _what is wrong with you?!_ " she murmured to herself. "It's not like you to break down like this! You weren't like this for your Mum and Dad, so why did it take Ron's murder for me to-"

"Perhaps it was because this... as I believe they say on Earth... this was _'the straw to break the camel's back',_ "

Hermione glanced up to see not only Camilla flying over to her, but Ninfea and a pixie with long, pinksh-red hair and big, blue eyes that were an even darker shade than Camilla's, with Ninfea being the one who had spoken.

"Hermione, are you okay?" Camilla took one look at Hermione and immediately shook her head. "No. You're clearly not okay, Hermione. Not only could I feel it through our bond, it's obvious by the look on your face!"

"I will be fine soon," Hermione tried reassuring her. "I just... _had another moment..._ "

She probably looked as ashamed as she felt.

"That wasn't just another moment, Hermione- and you know it. That looks like something that you will need help for- and this is just from what I can feel rolling off of you and not going deep!" the pinkish-redhead retorted.

Hermione looked from Camilla to Amore and back again.

"You must be Amore," Hermione noted. "Camilla mentioned you before. Pixie of Love, right?"

"Among other emotions," Amore nodded. "I'm also a bonded pixie too. My fairy is the lovely Stella, Crown Princess of Solaria and member of the Winx Club. Not that all of that stuff matters. Stella would be amazing to me as an ordinary fairy!" she gushed briefly.

"I'll be right back!" Camilla flew off and before Hermione could say anything, she flew back with a teacup and saucer in her hand that was even larger than she was, but was the perfect size for Hermione.

Both saucer and cup were a pale green with a dark green leaf design on it and the cup was filled with a steaming, greenish coloured tea.

"Thank you?" Hermione raised an eyebrow as she accepted the cup.

"It's one of my _special_ blends," Amore beamed. "designed to soothe an agitated soul."

Hermione eyed the cup suspiciously, before taking a reluctant taste.

The tea tasted terrific.

Not only that, but it was as if she could actually feel it begin to work through her body; soothing her with every sip.

"See? Amore makes great tea, so when I felt your distress and saw you run off, I asked her if I could have some for you!" Camilla explained.

"Well," Hermione smiled slightly. "It's working for now. Thank you."

Ninfea smiled. "Great. Now, when you feel up to it, feel free to join the rest of us. I'm sure that Roxy and the others will eventually notice your absence!"

With that, the pixie queen flew off to rejoin the others, leaving Hermione alone with Camilla and Amore.

"I was just sitting there, thinking of stuff, taking in what was going on around me, you know? Then I thought about how lovely this place was... and how Ron would have liked it here too..." she admitted.

"A former love of yours?" Amore asked knowingly.

"Yes. He... was killed in an attack on our school train a few months ago. I was present during the attack and managed to survive severe injuries from it, but he wasn't so lucky..." Hermione sighed.

Camilla moved to hug her and Hermione smiled gratefully.

"I'm sorry to hear," Amore really _did_ look truly sorry. "When you spoke of him, I could feel the love you had for him... and still do."

"It's hard," Hermione admitted. "Those same people responsible for his death also killed my parents almost two years before that. I'm still dealing with that, plus this whole bloody war... and I'm doing all I can to help Harry save our home. Voldemort... _the leader of the bad guys-_ " she added for Amore's benefit. "has basically won now. He has our home under his control and friends who weren't as lucky as Harry and I to get away... they had to hide somehow."

She had no idea while she was admitting this to a stranger (Amore might be a friend of Camilla's, but she was _still_ a stranger to her), but somehow, she found that she did not mind.

They talked for a few more minutes, until Hermione decided she was ready to rejoin the others.

"Thanks for the talk and the tea," she smiled. "both of you. I still have a long way to go and several things I must do before I am ever okay, but this really helped. Truly, it did."

Amore smiled back. "I'm glad to hear it, Hermione. Now let's go. I want to see if any of the other pixies managed to bond with Roxy's friends!"

Hermione stood up. "So do I. Let's go, shall we?"

She walked away from that spot, with Amore and Camilla flying on either side of her.

* * *

Hermione sat up in bed later that evening, after making sure that Crookshanks was fed, with Camilla reading a storybook as she lay back in the bed that Hermione had created for her, situated atop the desk in front of one of the windows.

The day and her second visit to Pixie Village had went well. Roxy's friends had all formed their own pixie bonds as well (Krystal with a weather pixie named Cherie, Rainer with Caramel, Anahita with Livy and Athena with Pam- a pixie with super speed) and she'd managed to get to know the other four fairies that day, even if it was just a little.

Krystal seemed nice, if not a bit _too_ bubbly at times and Rainer seemed rather subdued that day (at least, compared to what Roxy said she was usually like) although that was likely because of the sickness she was experiencing (it didn't stop her from making sarcastic remarks though), and while the twins did both come off as intelligent people, they clearly had starkly different personalities- with Athena clearly being the outgoing if not brazen sister who loved to annoy Anahita, the more introverted and quiet twin.

Hermione and Anahita had had a talk as both of them considered themselves the sane members of their respective groups and even in that brief time, found that they had quite a bit in common, promising to keep in touch with an 'exchange of knowledge' that sounded promising.

She'd also gotten to talk one on one again with the pixie queen Ninfea, who was rather interested in her bond.

 _"It's very rare for a non-fairy to bond to a pixie, my dear." Ninfea flew over to Hermione when she had been standing alone at one point. "There must be something rather special about you."_

 _"Really?" Hermione had raised an eyebrow. "I don't think so. I mean, sure I know that I am pretty intelligent, but my magic isn't all that special- whether in my own home world or here..."_

 _"I'm sure you're powerful in both your mind and your magic, Hermione. Underestimating yourself will not do you any good. Anyway, I'm sure you can use a combination of those two things to research unusual pixie bondings. Perhaps you have something in common with those past cases that might help you here."_

 _Hermione thought on it for a few seconds before nodding. "You're right, Your Majesty. The thought had crossed my mind before to do research on it, but it would have to take second priority right now."_

 _"To the task of preparing to help your friend Harry fight that murderous dark wizard from your home world?" Ninfea asked._

 _Hermione scowled briefly. "Yes."_

 _"I see. Either way, please try not to die. You seem like a pleasant enough young lady and then there's the fact that when either half of a bonding dies, the surviving half is never the same afterwards..." the pixie queen glanced over at Camilla, who was talking to some other pixies and laughing with them._

On that somewhat disturbing note, Hermione snapped herself out of her thoughts and back into her current situation.

Here she was, in Tir Nan Og, safe from the war going back on in her home (for now, as she intended to step back into the fray when she was ready), she was dealing with mourning those she had lost, she had come to realise that she was dealing with PTSD and yet, she was still pushing forward.

The thought had never crossed her mind to give up, despite all that she had been through up to this point.

Her earlier talks with Harry, Camilla, Amore and to a limited extent, Roxy and her friends had certainly helped.

She had a lot of things to look forward to- and she was certainly bloody well going to do her very best to get to them.

* * *

 _ **Well, what do you think so far, readers? Share your thoughts, opinions, predictions... I'm sure they'll be interesting and I'd like to hear them!**_


	9. Chapter 9

Hermione stood in the centre of the room, spell book in one hand and wand in her other, ready to start practicing a few spells in it (with Crookshanks hiding under the bed and Camilla atop the wardrobe looking down hesitantly), when someone knocked on her bedroom door.

Putting her wand down on the nearby table, she walked over to the door and opened it.

"Oh... wait. It's time for you to be heading back to Magix already?" she seemed rather surprised upon seeing Harry and Roxy there with all their things in tow, Harry in his uniform and Artu on his leash.

"Yes, Hermione. It's time for us to be heading back to Magix already. You've known this for _ages._ Did you get so lost in the books again that you forgot breakfast?" Harry raised an eyebrow at her.

"Judging by the look on her face, I would say yes," Roxy raised an eyebrow at her, with Zing, who was hovering some distance behind her, giggling at the exchange.

"Sorry..." Hermione felt sheepish. "It's just that I was making so much progress with some of the simpler spells in this book, that I was going to start on a few of the harder ones today and I got caught up in the flow..."

"Never change, Hermione." Harry chuckled. "Really. _Don't._ "

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Why don't you two get going? Won't you be late if you stay around, mocking me much longer?"

"Nope, we've got time," Harry grinned. "We just had to make sure that you were all right before we left!"

"Look at Camilla up there on the wardrobe," Roxy snickered, pointing the pixie out to Harry and Zing. "Why would she be afraid of your spell casting? What are you up to? Come to think of it... where's Crookshanks?"

Harry started snickering as well as he spotted Hermione's pet under the bed and pointed him out to Roxy, who started snickering even more.

Hermione scowled.

"Did you want the speech spell renewed on him for a bit?" Roxy gestured to Crookshanks, who emerged cautiously from beneath the bed.

"No. He'll be fine," Hermione spoke curtly. "I'm sure. I'm just going to practice these few spells, then this afternoon, head down to Ollivander's for a little talk (he really does know some absolutely _fascinating_ things) and perhaps head for a swim as well."

"Anyway," Harry grinned at her. We _do_ have places to be as well, people to meet, school to get to and so on, so I'll just leave you to your quest for infinite knowledge. We'll be in touch."

Hermione closed the door behind them and as she heard their laughter, she couldn't help but smile.

Even if it was just a little.

"Alright then. Now that those two _disturbances_ are gone..." she raised her wand again and when both Crookshanks and Camilla scarpered for cover once again, she only rolled her eyes as she continued on with her quest to improve her spell work.

* * *

That afternoon, after coming from her visit to Ollivander's, Hermione was just about to make her way to the nearby beach for a swim, when she heard a voice calling out her name.

"Miss Granger! Miss Granger!" she turned to see a woman with shoulder length black hair flapping behind her in the breeze as she waved to her, in her effort to grab Hermione's attention.

Once Hermione stopped, the woman Apparated closer to her.

"That's better," she neatened her robes and turned her hazel eyes onto the waiting Hermione.

"Hello, Miss Granger. You wouldn't know me personally, but you might have heard of me. My name is Andrina Springsteen. I met your friend Harry Potter when I tended to him at St Mungo's some time back. I was his personal Healer during his stay."

Hermione nodded, fighting down a flash of intense grief when she remembered that particular event- the same one that had claimed the lives of her parents. "Oh. You're the head of the spell damage unit there as well, aren't you?"

Healer Springsteen scowled. "I _was,_ until the Death Eaters decided that they needed a skilled, _Pureblood,_ fully qualified Healer and destroyed my house and very nearly killed my husband and two of my grandchildren in the process. Luckily, the fairies rescued me alongside Ollivander and the other prisoners at the place they were keeping us."

Hermione was sympathetic as the woman shuddered, clearly remembering her time in captivity.

"But yes... that is not what I came to ask you about. Harry said that I could ask you something and you would at least consider it, so here it is. There are a few children here from back home that are Hogwarts age, including those who would have started this year if it was safe to do so. Would you consider becoming a tutor for them, along with the rest of us adults?"

Hermione blinked, clearly stunned at Healer Springsteen's question. "So... you would like _me_ to help to teach them? What makes you think that I would be a good teacher? I know the subjects yes, but _teaching_ them to others is another matter entirely..."

"Please think about it. We're having a meeting tomorrow afternoon in the yard of my home here to sort things out. Mine is over there," she gestured to a house some distance away, with purple smoke coming out of the backyard. "At least come and hear things out. Harry highly recommends you and says that your intellect is what helped him through difficult situations _many_ times. From what I know of his life, that comes as a rather high recommendation."

"That's... _wow._ I will come to the meeting. It sounds like a worthwhile way of occupying my time here, besides teaching myself," Hermione nodded.

"That is good to hear," Healer Springsteen smiled. "I'm glad I caught you while you were out. Now if you'll excuse me, I must make sure that my granddaughter's Potions lesson doesn't end up poisoning everyone. That smoke is _not_ supposed to be that shade of purple!"

Hermione watched as the woman Apparated to the front step, before quickly bursting inside.

With a small chuckle, she turned back towards her original destination: the beach.

Not only was she planning on getting some swimming and relaxing in, but there were also a few water based spells that she wanted to try and the beach was the perfect place to try them.

* * *

"Hey, Hermione. How was your day?" Camilla asked her as she crossed the threshold of her room.

"It was both interesting and relaxing," Hermione smiled, scratching her still slightly damp hair lightly.

"How so? Did you learn a lot from Ollivander?" the pixie put down the book she had been reading.

"I did!" Hermione beamed. "He even made a wand while I was there to watch! Fascinating stuff, though I did promise not to tell anyone how he makes his in particular. Stopped just short of making a Vow, actually. It was worth it, though I don't think I could try it myself..."

"Uh-huh..." Camilla looked unsure. "What else did you do? I know you well enough now that that wouldn't have been the only learning related thing you did today!"

Hermione laughed. "You _do_ know me too well!"

Casting a proper drying charm on herself so that she'd be fully dry, she flopped into her bed.

"I did a bit of practicing my magic at the beach both before and after I went for a swim and that went well. Didn't cause any floods or tsunamis!"

"That's good to hear," Camilla giggled. "I can't swim yet!"

"I'll have to teach you sometime," Hermione noted. "I love swimming when I get the chance. I find it quite relaxing! That and my visit to Ollivander's wasn't the only thing I did, though. While I was there, after that visit and before I reached the beach, I met an interesting woman from back home..."

With that, Hermione was off, telling her bonded pixie about what Healer Springsteen had asked of her.

"So... what do you think?" Hermione asked. "Should I do it?"

"I would at least go to the meeting, if I were you. It sounds like it could be a great opportunity for you! You're so smart, I bet you could help those children to be just as smart as you!" Camilla gushed.

"Oh, stop it," Hermione waved her off, blushing slightly. "I know that I'm intelligent honestly but that isn't all you need to be a teacher!"

"And you knowing that tells me that you're on the right path to being a teacher!" Camilla beamed. "I bet you'll be just as great for them as my old teacher Tune was for me!"

"She's bonded too, right?" Hermione asked. "I think I remember you mentioning something like that."

"Yeah, she is. To Musa," Camilla said and Hermione nodded, remembering that Musa was yet another member of the Winx Club, aside from Aisha and Stella. "She's taught be etiquette, diction and all of those things! Plus she has a really powerful voice!"

Hermione nodded. "Yes, yes... well, you know what? I think I'll go to the meeting and see what can happen in this regard. My first priority is still training myself for the war and beyond, but I could probably spend a few hours per day helping out with this. Besides, there wouldn't be nearly as many students here as there would be at Hogwarts, so the work _would_ be less."

"That's the spirit!" Camilla cheered.

* * *

"Okay, now that we're all here, here's the idea," Healer Springsteen stood up from the head of a long table that had been set up in the backyard.

Hermione glanced around the backyard, where a light breeze ruffled the trees and carried the scent of the beach and sea, even though it was some distance away.

Her pen and notebook were laid out on her spot at the table and if she turned to glance at one of the windows, she could see inside the house, where Camilla was having fun with some of the very children they were meeting about.

"There's only about nine of them here that are Hogwarts age and the youngest would have been a Second Year and the oldest a Sixth Year. Rachel is the only Second Year, while there are two who would have been in Third, Two in Fourth, Three who would have been in fifth and one in Sixth," the older witch explained. "We've all been doing a decent job of it thus far, but I was thinking that we could mix things up a bit. Give them a few additional lessons, besides the magical subjects. While Hogwarts was an amazing place for us all and did us quite well, we need to take advantage of the time we have here to bring them back up to scratch on things like Maths, the languages and arts and such."

All across the table, they made various noises of agreement, Hermione included.

That was one of the things that she hadn't been happy to find out about Hogwarts when she'd first learnt about magic: their neglect of non magical subjects such as Maths, French, Literature and so on.

Sure, she had managed to keep up, using the Muggle textbooks her parents had occasionally sent her, as well as spending copious amounts of time at Muggle libraries and Muggle summer school when she could, but it just wasn't the same.

"When we all go back home after this, they may return to that way of learning at Hogwarts, but at least we would have educated them as best as we could here. All agreed?" she asked.

Everyone agreed.

"Fantastic. Now, let's go around the table and share what subjects we're particular to and what experience we have with them, shall we?"

Hermione watched and took in everyone talking.

Healer Springsteen volunteered herself to tutor Transfiguration, while her husband Isaac, who turned out to be a doctor, planned on tutoring Potions.

When all was said and done, Hermione ended up agreeing to teach the three younger students French (which she was fluent in, thanks to her parents and their frequent visits to France) as well as History of Magic, neither of which required the use of actual magic, but she was fine with nevertheless.

Education was education, after all and it was _just_ enough workload to manage with her other current activities.


	10. Chapter 10

Hermione noted idly the three new numbers she had stored in her phone over the summer.

Roxy's number, Aisha's number and Anahita's number, in that chronological order.

She chuckled lightly.

Even with those numbers (plus Harry's, of course), she still did not have that many stored.

Later today, after she went over to help with the British children's lessons, she'd probably have a few more numbers, that of Healer Srpingsteen's... _Andrina's..._ included.

Right.

The Healer had insisted that Hermione called her by her given name, so that's what she'd do.

Ron's number was still there, although...

She refused to delete his number, even though both he and the phone were lost...

"Focus, Hermione. Focus!" she shook her head to clear it. Now was not the time to go down that road.

Glancing at the time, her eyes widened.

She didn't have time to call Harry as she had planned to, she had lessons to prepare for!

Luckily, she only had three students to prepare for, so she could go at a bit more of a relaxed, less structured pace, but still. She couldn't go to them without any idea of what to do!

She wanted these lessons to go just right!

Oh well...

At least, if she waited until later, she would have much more to tell Harry...

Putting away the phone (it had distracted her long enough), she got up to prepare today's lessons.

She'd work on the later lesson plans once she'd met with her students and determined where they stood in both of her assigned subjects.

Lessons with the children, her quest to improve her spell skill and repertoire, exercise, plus research into other topics that interested her were _sure_ to keep her busy during her time here.

Harry had Red Fountain to keep himself busy in between preparing to fight Voldemort and she had all of this, in between preparing to _help him_ fight Voldemort.

Both suited them perfectly and both were unexpected opportunities that they were making the best of.

It did not occur to Hermione at the time, but these activities were also helping them cope with grief and other issues they had; which would certainly have affected them more if they didn't have this.

* * *

Hermione smiled down at her first student, a girl with tan skin and thick, straight black hair pulled into a ponytail, which the girl constantly fiddled with nervously as the two stood in a small room arranged to look like a miniature version of a Hogwarts classroom.

"So, you're Rachel Francis, right? Healer Springsteen's granddaughter?" she asked kindly.

"Yes, that's me," Rachel nodded shyly. "It is _really_ nice to meet you, Hermione. I've heard so much about you and it's so great to meet you in person!"

Hermione chuckled at the girl's obvious (despite her nervousness) excitement in meeting her.

She would have expected this level of excitement in someone meeting Harry, but not her...

"So, how old are you?" Hermione asked her, after waiting for Rachel to calm down a bit more.

"I'm twelve," Rachel spoke quietly, although she finally looked Hermione in the eyes. "So I would have been starting my Second Year at Hogwarts if You-Know-Who hadn't wrecked it all... I wanted to be a Ravenclaw, just like my gran and Uncle Jake, even though grandpa and my parents were Gryffindors... Although I suppose Hufflepuff wouldn't have been so bad..."

"Well, since you seem to be a fan of mine, you'll know that I was a Gryffindor. However, I'll let you in on a small secret: I was _almost_ a Ravenclaw myself!"

"Wow!" Rachel looked at her in awe. "Then that means your bravery must be really greater than your intelligence... and you're supposed to be really smart!"

"You flatter me," Hermione laughed as she sat down and motioned for Rachel to do the same. "but we have work to do right now. There will be plenty of time for you to get to know me later- and for me to get to know you, of course!"

Rachel let out an honest to goodness squeal, making Hermione laugh again.

"Okay, okay. _Settle down._ We're going to get to work on History of Magic first. Fascinating stuff, despite what many people would have to say about it," she looked through the small pile of books she had brought with her and handed it to the younger witch. "I'd like you to read through the first chapter of this book and then we'll have a discussion about it."

Rachel nodded eagerly, cracking open the book, as well as removing some ink, parchment and a quill from her bag.

* * *

Hermione's first day of teaching went well enough, all things considered.

Her classes with Rachel went well, with the girl showing not only an eagerness to learn, but knowledge of both subjects that went beyond the basic level.

Her lessons with the two Third Years also went well. While they had not been as excited to meet her, or as eager to learn, they both were pleasant enough in the classes that made her look forward to working with them.

While it was true that she couldn't imagine doing this as a career (even if she didn't have her mind set on becoming a lawyer), she found that she didn't mind it as much as she thought she would have.

Checking her watch, she reminded herself that it was still early afternoon, so she still had plenty of time to do other things for herself that day.

Great.

Before she headed back to the palace and reunited with Camilla and Crookshanks, she decided to go into the forest and explore it for a bit.

While she had certainly been through the forest before, it had always been with Harry, Roxy, Camilla or any combination of the three.

Never alone.

As much as she liked the time spent with her best friend, tentative new friend (for she still didn't feel _that_ close to Roxy, although she genuinely liked the animal fairy and was appreciative of what she had done for both Harry and herself) and her bonded pixie, she still savoured her alone time.

It was what she used to think.

It was what she used to work through any... stray thoughts that she was having.

Without any interruptions.

As she made herself comfortable against the back of a tree, the thought occurred to her that she could keep a diary.

That... was a good idea.

She had heard that actually writing out one's thoughts and reading them over could help you process said thoughts better. Plus it would be a great way of keeping track of what she was doing... how she was doing when she went to see a therapist in the future.

She also wasn't worried in the slightest about someone snooping, since she knew quite a few locking and security charms, which her interest had been sparked in way back when, in her second year at Hogwarts during the Chamber of Secrets fiasco.

In particular, that incident where Ginny had broke into Harry's dorm, broke into his trunk and stolen Voldemort's... _Tom Riddle's_ actually... diary back.

That decided, she relaxed a bit more and began to think about other things.

It was September now... only three months since the attack on the Hogwarts Express that had killed Ron and many others, plus almost killed her.

It had taken that to permanently break apart the longest friendship she had ever had.

Sure, she still had Harry as her best friend and she was thankful for that, but it wasn't the same without Ron.

Even though he had really tested her patience at times, _especially_ during the early years.

He really did work hard on improving himself after Harry had ended up in Magix though... and it showed. She hadn't been the only one to notice.

Ginny had noticed of course; the teachers, the other students... even the ghosts of Hogwarts had noticed the change.

She had too, even before they started dating.

Afterwards, she had thought that he'd only tried changing to catch her romantic interest, at least at first. However, it soon showed that he genuinely was trying to better himself and not just for her.

She smiled at the more pleasant memories.

If he hadn't died, she wondered what they would have been doing now that they would have been out of Hogwarts and with the war going on at home.

Would they had joined the Order of the Phoenix, doing their best in the resistance against Voldemort? Would they have hidden themselves, since they would have probably become two of the most wanted people in the country? The Blood Traitor and Mudblood best friends of Harry Potter?

If Harry had still been in Britain, there was certainly no doubt that they would be at his side for sure...

Three months...

Had it truly been three months since Ron was murdered and she almost murdered?

Sometimes it felt like it had been longer...

Yawning, Hermione snapped herself out of her thoughts briefly and looked around.

The forest's trees knitted together at their tops; providing a natural cover, which while it did block out much of the sun, still let in plenty enough to see clearly.

She could feel a slight breeze blowing, which she saw ruffle the trees, grass and plants.

Breathing in, she caught a scent of not only forest, but also the beach which wasn't too far away.

She smiled.

It was all rather relaxing... and goodness knows that she could do with some relaxation... she had worked _so_ hard since coming to Tir Nan Og in an effort to keep herself busy and keep away the bad thoughts...

She deserved to relax...

Having the presence of mind to do so, she cast a few protective spells around herself and allowed herself to relax further.

Soon, she drifted off.

* * *

When she awoke a few hours later and looked around sleepily, she noticed Camilla curled up next to her, on the ground, sound asleep.

Hermione smiled and shook her head.

She must have come to look for her when she didn't come back when she said that she would and ended up falling asleep as well.

She knew that both sides of a pixie bond could track one another to a certain extent, so she didn't wonder how Camilla had found her.

Looking up through the top of the forest to see late afternoon approaching, she made sure that she undid all the spells she had cast there as well as checking to see that she still had all of her belongings.

Once she did that, she lifted Camilla gently and cradled her in her arms, not wanting to wake the sleeping pixie.

Apparating back to the castle with Camilla in tow was out of the question as the last time she had tried it, the poor pixie had ended up puking and begging her to never do that again unless she _absolutely had to._

Still feeling guilty over that memory, she had agreed.

So, it looked like it was time for a walk back to the palace.

* * *

"Hermione?" Camilla looked up at her sleepily, waking up just as they crossed the threshold of Hermione's palace room.

Crookshanks meowed a greeting, before returning to playing with the mouse toy he was currently occupied with.

"Hello there, Sleeping Beauty," Hermione rested her gently on her own bed, then sat next to her. "I see that you came to look for me."

"Yeah, and I found _you_ as the Sleeping Beauty," Camilla chuckled. "I wasn't worried, since I didn't feel any stress from you, but I did wonder what you had gotten up to. You were supposed to be back here _ages_ ago!"

"Well, I happened to find a rather relaxing spot to relax after the lessons and then that happened," Hermione looked a bit sheepish.

"I see," Camilla pushed herself up into a sitting position. "So... how was it, the teaching? Did it go well? Were the students nice to you Did you get everything you wanted to do done?"

Hermione nodded.

"Yes, I did. It was actually pretty nice, teaching them. I don't want to do it as a career, but I don't mind doing it like this at all." she said.

"It also gives you something else to do besides working yourself to death practicing those spells!" Camilla shot her a look that nearly made Hermione laugh.

"You know exactly why I work so hard on those spells, but okay. I suppose I could afford to be a little less... intense about it."

"That's great! Get your practice in, but not to the level that the practice ends up being what does you in!" Camilla exclaimed. "Now, tell me more about these classes you taught. I want to know more details!"

Hermione gladly obliged her.


	11. Chapter 11

As the months passed, Hermione grew more and more used to her life in Tir Nan Og, although, of course, she never forgot about her life and her friends back home.

In between lessons with her students, her own studies and research, practicing magic and her exercising, among other things, she still did her very best to keep up to date with everything that was happening back in Britain, usually via Ginny.

Harry, meanwhile, usually did the same with Remus during his time at Red Fountain, although they all did combine every once in a while with a conference call.

As was the case now.

She had been out exploring the island and had just stopped to relax in a cave she had found, when she realised that the time for such a call had arrived.

Sitting against the cave wall as she participated, she eagerly listened to the news being provided to her and Harry by both Ginny _and_ Remus.

"Hogwarts still standing?" Harry asked.

"Of course," Ginny smirked. "As soon as the Ministry fell, hell, probably even _before_ it fell, Dumbledore, the other professors and people from the Order came to reinforce the protections. Even Fred and George helped with the secret passages into and out of the school!"

"And as you all already know, it still serves as a school for those students who managed to make it there," Remus added. "It's a refuge for them and their family members as well."

"That's good to hear," Hermione nodded. "They get to finish their education _and_ stay safe while doing it!"

"How long will that last, though?" Harry pointed out. "We all know that Hogwarts is _very_ important to him. Sooner or later, he's going to come for it. Not only does he probably believe that the castle is rightfully his since he's the Heir of Slytherin..."

"...but he won't let a such a beacon of resistance against him exist for much longer." Hermione finished for her best friend, having a feeling about exactly what he was thinking.

Harry nodded.

"Dumbledore is aware of such a possibility," Remus explained. "He and others are doing their best to protect the castle, but when he turns his attentions towards it, I honestly don't know if they would be able to hold up against him for long..."

"In the meantime, we're still fighting; still resisting. Lee Jordan actually has a programme on an illicit Wizarding Wireless station called... _Potterwatch._ "

Hermione blinked, before glancing at Harry's projection to see his reaction to it.

He did not disappoint, she noted with a chuckle. Even with all the things they had been through, especially in the last two years, he was still the same modest bloke at heart.

"Why would they name the programme... _Potterwatch..._ if I'm not even there to _be_ watched by anyone, Voldemort or no?" Harry looked a combination of embarrassed, yet ticked off.

"Of all the questions to ask about Potterwatch, _that's_ the one he goes with," Remus chuckled, while Ginny was in full blown laughter at the positively _ridiculous_ expression on Harry's face.

"I think," Ginny paused to catch her breath before speaking. "They just appreciate the irony. Lee might have come up with the idea for the programme, but Fred and George helped name it. They help out with it a lot too."

"So, what's that programme like?" Hermione asked. "How do they even do it?"

"I don't know how they did, but the managed to get hold of some broadcast equipment and just decided to put it to good use. We all did our bit to spread the word about it to our people, so they'd know when the first broadcast was. After that, they put a password on the frequency, so it was only if you listened to it the last time or knew someone who had before, you'd be able to hear it," Remus answered. "They've had a rather close call though, with Death Eaters tracking them down. Luckily, they managed to escape."

"They talk about what they hear the _Chief Death Eater_ is up to, words of encouragement, advice, they pass on the word of people looking for missing relatives and friends, talk about the deaths that the Daily Prophet and regular Wizarding Wireless channels refuse to..." Ginny counted them off on her fingers.

"Nice," Harry nodded in approval (of the content of the programme, not the name).

"Indeed," Hermione agreed. "I wonder if there was a way that Harry and I could listen to it... perhaps even participate one day."

"Ginny, ask your brothers and see what they can do." Harry asked the redhead.

"I thought you'd never ask," Ginny grinned. "It would be the highlight of the thing. Would you be able to come be on it in person or would we work something out otherwise?"

"It would have to be otherwise," Harry said. "I know that I leave Red Fountain for the next break in a few days, but I'm not going to be that free for long. I'll stop in Tir Nan Og to spend time with Hermione and Roxy of course, but then I've got other places to be."

 _"Oh?"_ Hermione thought. _"Where could he possibly have to go that wasn't Earth? Then again, he was by the definitions of their home world an adult now, so he can go where he likes, but still..."_

"Well, that's all I have got to tell you for the moment, so if you will all excuse me, I need to make sure that Tonks is okay. She was working on more protective charms for this place when we got started on this call." Remus said.

"What, you don't trust the capabilities of your wife, who also happens to be a competent Auror AND the mum of your son?" Harry teased.

Remus actually rolled his eyes. "I trust her fine, I just promised that I would help her is all. Until next time, take care."

Remus ended his part of the call.

"Stay safe, Ginny. I really don't want to have to visit _another_ Weasley grave..." Hermione said and Harry nodded in agreement.

Ginny looked grim. "Trust me, you two. I'm doing my best not to let that happen."

With that, she too, was gone, leaving only Harry and Hermione on the line.

"See you in a few days, Harry. Try not to get into any more trouble before then, please?" Hermione teased.

Harry rolled his eyes. "And you try not to study yourself into a coma."

Harry ended the call, leaving Hermione to chuckle for a moment.

Once she stopped, she mulled over what she and Harry had learnt from the call.

So far, Voldemort had firm control over the Ministry of Magic itself and several other institutions but for some reason, did not seemingly come for Hogwarts as yet and no one had any idea as to when he would try something there.

Communications were rather limited, as they were well aware that the Voldemort controlled Ministry would be monitoring communications, mysterious disappearances still continued, people were going into hiding, the persecution against Muggleborns increased... all things that were to be expected with Voldemort basically running the country.

However, even with tyranny at the helm, there were still sparks of resistance.

The fact that Hogwarts was still standing brightly, with Dumbledore still at its head was the brightest one (although they were all preparing for the worst, should that happen to change), the Potterwatch programme and all it broadcasted refusing to be shut down despite Death Eaters coming for them, among other things...

Yes, Voldemort would soon learn.

He thought he won and perhaps he did, but it was only the battle.

The war wasn't over yet.

* * *

"All is well?" Camilla asked once she returned from her outing.

"As well as it could be," Hermione sighed as she sat in the nearest chair and allowed Crookshanks onto her lap. "I took a call from home while I was out. Things aren't pretty back in Britain, of course. I'm _truly_ glad I'm safe here now and that Harry is fine at Red Fountain. _Muggleborn Registration Committee, indeed..._ "

She shuddered at the thought of it, then shuddered even more at the knowledge of who exactly was in charge of it.

She wouldn't have stood a chance under such a regime, with the added bonus of her being their most wanted person's best friend.

Camilla looked as if she wanted to know more, yet not know at the same time.

Apparently deciding to drop that topic, she started talking about something else.

"So, what are you gonna do when Harry and Roxy get back? Do you have anything planned?" the pixie asked her.

"Well, I still plan on continuing my studies and practice- although I'll lessen it for a bit and it was decided that my students would be on break by then, so that frees up more of my time for then. That means more time to spend with you as well!"

Camilla cheered.

"Yay! I know you've never neglected me and I know why you have to stay busy, but more time with you is _always_ great!" she exclaimed.

Crookshanks meowed loudly just then, as if in agreement.

"Oh yes. More time with you too, Crookshanks." Hermione chuckled, patting him lightly. "Certainly more time with you..."

"For now however, I think I will freshen up and then... a nap sounds good right now, actually," the witch yawned suddenly.

* * *

A few hours later, Hermione, well rested from her nap and still feeling clean from her shower prior stretched and got out of bed, only to see that Camilla and Crookshanks themselves had gone down for their own naps.

Shrugging, she went over to her desk, retrieved a book from it and went back to her bed, settling in to read.

It was a fiction book from back home (the Muggle side), something which she hardly made time to read, but was perfect for her current mood of simply wanting something to entertain her mind, rather than work it for the moment.

Goodness knows she needed it.

Hermione found the author rather skilled; they were easily able to hold her attention for all of what she had read so far.

Plus it was a crime/mystery book, so despite her intentions of relaxing, she too, found herself trying to solve the ongoing crimes alongside the book's protagonist.

In fact, she was so engrossed in it, that she didn't notice her phone ringing until it already had been for quite a few times.

Startled when she finally heard the ringing, she dragged herself out of the comfy bed and sprinted over to the phone, to see that it was Anahita calling.

Going back to her bed and casting a spell around it so she wouldn't disturb her cat and pixie, she answered the call.

"Oh. Hello there, Hermione! For a second, I thought you were more preoccupied with something else," she said.

"Nothing of importance," Hermione admitted. "What's happening? How are you?"

Since the summer, when they had met properly for the first time, she and Anahita had kept in contact on a fairly regular basis, often discussing the different magical theories of their home worlds and comparing them, something which also happened to help Hermione's own personal research.

As a result, they had developed a mildly friendly relationship and Hermione found herself coming to genuinely enjoy talking to the fairy of literature.

"Oh, I am well, thank you and I hope the same goes for you," Anahita smiled. "However, that is not why I called. You see, I heard from Roxy that you are still in Tir Nan Og and would be for our break. My grandparents however, just invited my sister and our roommates to spend the break on Romulea with them. I mentioned you to them though and I told them you were a friend of mine as well. So... they extended the invitation to you as well! That is of course, if you would like to come..." the fairy looked hopeful.

"Of course I'd like to come!" Hermione exclaimed excitedly. "Why would I turn down the opportunity to see _more_ magical worlds? Out of curiosity though, which set of grandparents are you talking about? Roxy mentioned that you have family from both Zenith and Romulea..."

"My paternal grandparents. Both pleasant enough people. Bring Camilla with you too, of course. Even Crookshanks can come along, if you want. He can keep my grandparents' cat Nyree company, although I don't know how much she would like that..." Anahita looked hesitant at that part.

"Eh... we'll make it work," Hermione waved that minor concern off. "So, why don't you tell me about Romulea? What's it like there?"

As the two females talked, Hermione found herself getting more and more excited.

The trip to Romulea would be a nice change of pace from her usual routine; a vacation of sorts that she could also learn from and get to know her new friend better.

Why wouldn't she go?

* * *

 ** _Come on people! Review and let me know your thoughts!_**


	12. Chapter 12

"Welcome to Romulea, ladies!"

Anahita and her twin sister gestured as they waited for Hermione and the others to step out of the portal.

As Hermione stepped out of the portal, with an expanded-space backpack on, Camilla on her shoulder and a firm grip on Crookshanks in his carrier, she took in her surroundings in fascination.

The portal had put them out in an inter-dimensional transport centre on the planet, just as the twins had told them.

They had stepped through a fixed-point portal; one that had two metallic pillars on either side, the same design as several others lined in a row, each separated by several feet.

Reading about centres like this, she vaguely remembered that there would be other levels for other magical modes of inter-dimensional transport. For example, airships and the like.

Shaking off her wandering thoughts, she focused on the task at hand.

"So, we walk this way to get to our ride," Athena was explaining, pointing to their right. "Grandfather said that they were sending a car for us."

They began walking in that direction, talking as they went.

"Oh yes! He and Grandmother are unavoidably busy today, but they cleared their schedule to spend the rest of the break with us!" Anahita added.

"What do they do?" Hermione asked out of curiosity.

"Grandfather is a librarian at a local university and as for our Grandmother... well, she is a trained educator and her last teaching job was at a local preparatory school until her writing career took off!" Anahita answered.

"Oh?" Hermione raised an eyebrow. "What sort of books does she write? Does she write fiction or nonfiction?"

"Their grandmother is Nadora Clairmont!" Rainer piped up. "She is like, one of the most famous authors ever! Her books are _amazing,_ no matter the type and she has a wide variety of types in her repertoire!"

"Of the only books you ever read," Roxy snarked. "If it wasn't for those, I wouldn't know that you _could_ read!"

Rainer rolled her eyes. "Well, I would think it quite obvious that I am literate, otherwise I could never have made it this far in my education, now could I?"

"I would consider that a debatable topic," Roxy teased.

"Rainer _does_ have a point, though." Krystal butted in.

Hermione laughed. "Thank goodness for that! So, Anahita, Athena, what do your grandparents have planned for us?"

"I have no idea," the twins answered in unison, before looking at one another oddly.

"Even though they are identical twins, that twinspeak thing does not really happen often for them," Roxy explained to Hermione, who had raised an eyebrow at the look the twins had given each other.

Hermione nodded.

"They are both rather fond of surprises," Anahita shrugged. "They are interesting people with a wide variety of interests however, so I am quite certain that they will have things planned that interest all six of us."

At that point, they arrived outside and eventually found someone waiting for them, who the twins seemed to have happily recognised.

"Grandfather!" Anahita was the first to see him.

"I thought you said that you were unavoidably busy!" Athena raised an eyebrow at the older man.

"My schedule was mysteriously lightened," the man smiled at his granddaughters. "Now why don't you introduce me to your lovely friends over there?"

"Of course," Anahita nodded, before turning back to the rest of them. "Ladies, this is Bertram Clairmont, our grandfather. Grandfather, this is..."

As she went through the introductions, Hermione took a moment to properly look at Mr Clairmont.

He was not a tall man at all.

In fact, both of his granddaughters were taller than he was. He was also slightly stocky and wore small, oval shaped glasses. Like his granddaughters, his hair was also green- but while Athena's and Anahita's hair was more of a forest green, his was more of a mint green and was short and wavy, he also sported a rather bushy beard.

Her first impression of him was that he was a gentle sort of man and while Hermione was well aware that looks were deceiving, that didn't appear to be the case this time. He happily chatted with them all as he took them to his vehicle and helped them load up their things, before ensuring they were all comfortable inside before getting in himself.

It was a hover car of some sort and judging by the way the fairies were talking about it, it was apparently a higher end, luxury brand.

Inside of it vaguely reminded her of a more futuristic version of a limo on Earth, with it having plenty of space for them to lounge about on top of plush cushioned seating, an entertainment system built in as well as a mini fridge which, Anahita mentioned in passing, was where their grandfather liked to keep his snacks when taking longer trips.

Camilla went over to the part of the car that the other pixies had commandeered and joined their conversation.

Looking out of the window, Hermione took in the sights of the city they were riding through.

It was quite different from Magix (which they had stopped in for a few hours prior to travelling to Romulea), in that its architecture seemed less... _how to put it..._ its architecture seemed less futuristic than that of Magix, although the overall futuristic theme was quite clearly still there.

The people seemed to also be more conservatively dressed in general than the ones in Magix, but nowhere near as much as the people from the magical part of Britain.

Tuning back into the conversation, Hermione noticed that they were now talking about some person that they apparently attended Alfea with called Idelle.

"I tell you, I would _not_ be surprised if she never earned her Enchantix. She's far too mean to ever consider sacrificing herself for anyone!" Rainer exclaimed vehemently.

"Who is this Idelle that you lot are talking about?" Hermione asked.

"Do you _really_ want to know who that absolute _bitch_ is?" Rainer nearly snarled, taking Hermione aback.

"Idelle and Rainer are pretty much sworn enemies," Anahita explained.

"They have been since the unfortunate day that they first met," Roxy added. "And I honestly cannot blame her for that. Idelle is _truly_ horrible! For comparison, Hermione, Harry's told me all about Draco Malfoy. Well, picture a fairy with a personality like that. That is Idelle in a nutshell."

Hermione winced. "Wow. She really _does_ sound like a piece of work!"

 _"She is a piece of work!"_ Rainer snarled, looking remarkably like Bellatrix Lestrange in that moment.

"Okay, okay! Enough talk about unpleasant topics like her. We were talking about Enchantix in general. Any bets as to who is going to get their Enchantix first in our little group?" Rainer asked.

The other fairies all turned to look at her.

"Really now?" Rainer raised an eyebrow at them all.

"Well, you _do_ tend to be a bit impulsive..." Krystal pointed out.

"As do you!" Rainer retorted. "So you are hardly one to talk about being _impulsive,_ Krystal!"

Anahita sighed. "They get like this all the time. It really does get irritating..."

"Well, since they've gone off topic again, why don't you tell me about Enchantix? I don't really don't know much about the different levels of power that fairies can achieve. How many are there?" Hermione asked.

"Well, there's the basic Winx form, then there is the Charmix add on to that, then there is Enchantix. There are a few other transformations that _could_ be unlocked if one has Enchantix, but in my opinion, the Enchantix form is the most revered of them all."

"How do you earn those different forms? Those different... transformations?" Hermione started taking mental notes.

"Well, typically, the first fairy transformation, the Winx form, is triggered by an extreme emotion such as fear, anger or sheer determination. In my case, it was fear. I was thirteen and home alone, when Athena decided to sneak in and sneak up on me while I was studying. I literally flew up out of my chair and transformed," Anahita scowled at the memory and Hermione giggled at her expression. "I blasted a hole in the ceiling and everything. Mother and Father were not pleased in the slightest with her..."

They became so engrossed in their discussion that they did not notice that the vehicle stopped until Athena stepped in to point it out.

"I hate to interrupt your lovely discussion about fairy magic, but we have arrived at our destination!" Athena exclaimed.

"And a nice destination it is too," Rainer sounded impressed as she looked out the window. "I know that with my status in Androsian society, I've seen more extravagant homes than this, but this one seems nice!"

The door opened and Mr Clairmont stood aside, obviously waiting for them to get out.

The twins got out first, followed by the pixies Roxy, then herself.

They had apparently gone down a long, private road and the car had landed on the front lawn of a large (but not obnoxiously so) house.

The lawn was well manicured, with a fountain set in the middle of the path that led right up to the front doors.

Tall, well maintained hedges were on either side of them and Hermione caught a glimpse of what appeared to be a swimming pool in the backyard and some more trees set further back.

"I will give you ladies a proper tour of the place later. For now, you can put your things in Athena's and Anahita's rooms. They'll show you the way. I have to make a few calls now," Mr Clairmont stepped back into his vehicle as he pulled a phone from his pocket.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Let's go!" Athena led the way inside.

* * *

"This is my room. You two can stay here with me," Anahita led Hermione and Krystal into her room, while Athena had taken Roxy and Rainer with her to the room next door.

"Surely you could have put a bit more colour into the place!" Krystal exclaimed as she walked in and looked around.

"I don't mind it," Hermione said as she put her things in a corner of the room. "They might not be vibrant colours, but it's nice!"

The room (which was large, but not extremely so) had been decorated in a dark gold, silver, black, grey and white colour scheme, with the walls being dark gold, the wall to wall carpeting being silver and Anahita's bed frame being black, with grey and white bedding, with the other trimmings in the room being mostly of the aforementioned colours.

There was a door that opened out onto a small balcony that overlooked the rear of the house, with two medium sized windows on either side of it.

"I find them relaxing myself, although some may disagree," Anahita snapped her fingers and two other beds, similar in appearance to her own, appeared on either side of it.

Krystal immediately moved over to the nearest one, while Hermione walked over to the other one, Summoning her things closer as she went.

"May I let Crookshanks out now?" Hermione asked. "He has been in his carrier rather long after all..."

"Sure, it's fine," Anahita shrugged. "I wouldn't like being in there that long either. Sure, he got a break when we were at that park in Magix, but still..."

Hermione knelt down to open the carrier and as soon as she did, Crookshanks bolted out of it, making his displeasure known, much to the amusement of the pixies present (and Krystal), who started giggling.

"Poor thing," Cherie piped up. "I would have probably done the same..."

"Me too!" Livy exclaimed. "At least you're free now!"

"Didn't you say that your grandparents have a cat too? Where is it?" Hermione asked.

"Nyree is probably lurking around somewhere. I hope she and Crookshanks can get along..."Anahita looked briefly worried.

Hermione had just used her wand to Summon Crookshanks' bed out of her bottomless bag, when Athena's loud voice called out from behind the closed door.

"Anahita! Come on! Grandfather's ready to give them the grand tour, then he said that we could meet Grandmother somewhere for dinner!" the other twin screeched.

Anahita rolled her eyes. "Well, you heard her, ladies. Let's get a move on..."


	13. Chapter 13

As Anahita's and Athena's grandfather gave them a tour of the home and its grounds, they found themselves outside the door of what appeared to be a small cottage, set far away from the main house.

"This is Nadora's home office," Mr Clairmont gestured towards it. "She had it built it herself, when her writing career took off and it is now where she does most of her writing related work. She has communication in there so we can contact her if needed and she can easily teleport between here and the main house. Nadora wanted her special place to get into the writing frame of mind and this is it!" he smiled.

"Yeah, just don't disturb her when she's in there unless it's _really_ important," Athena piped up. "It will _not_ end well."

"It certainly did not end well for Father and Aunt Phyllis!" Anahita snickered.

Mr Clairmont sighed. "Even as adults, Phyllis and Rigel are goofballs... I sometimes wonder if your aunt Mahalia was the only one of our children to ever learn..."

"Aunt Phyllis and our dad are twins too," Anahita explained to the rest of them. "though obviously, not identical. They do, however, look like genderbent versions of each other..."

"And Aunt Mahalia is the oldest. She and Aunt Phyllis still live on Romulea unlike Daddy. Maybe we'll see them while we're here. If not, then perhaps another time," Athena shrugged.

"Wait... what _did_ happen to their father and aunt when they disturbed your wife?" Krystal asked the question that Hermione was about to.

Mr Clairmont laughed. "Nothing too serious. Just a minor stunning spell and a silly new makeover that refused to budge for several hours. It was still rather entertaining, though."

"To think... this is where the magic happens," Rainer looked in awe as she gazed upon the little cottage. "This is where the words _flow..._ "

"She placed a few copies of each of her works in our home library as well, Rainer," Mr Clairmont looked amused at the Androsian fairy's expression. "You are more than welcome to read them while you are here. That goes for all of you as well."

Hermione vowed to check it out properly. They _had_ been given a brief tour of the rather expansive home library before they got out here, but they didn't have the time then to actually stay. She was sure that the personal library of a librarian and a professional author would be one of the most extensive ones ever!

"You _did_ get rid of the book that tried to eat us in the summer before our Sophomore year, right?" Anahita asked, looking apprehensive.

Hermione had heard that story as they toured the library and noticed that the twins looked apprehensive about going into that particular room.

Questioning why, their grandfather had heard her and ended up telling them a tale about a giant book that had tried- and succeeded- in _eating_ them when they were trying to help their grandparents catalogue some new additions.

She winced.

 _The Fantastic Book of Monsters_ that Hagrid had assigned her and the other Care of Magical Creatures students in their Third Year at Hogwarts had been bad enough, but at least it hadn't been capable of eating and swallowing them whole...

"Oh no, it's not gone," Mr Clairmont shrugged indifferently. "It's just under heavy magical lock and key now."

The twins didn't look completely reassured, but they let it slide.

"Well, now that you've seen Nadora's working space, you've seen everything there is to see on our property. She should be getting back soon, so why don't you all go freshen up now so we can be ready to go out for dinner soon?" Mr Clairmont suggested.

"That sounds like a _great_ idea, Grandfather. What's the dress code for this particular restaurant? Do we need to wear anything fancy?" Athena asked.

"Just dress nicely, that's it. Now go!" he waved them off.

* * *

"So, what do you think of my grandparents' home?" Anahita asked Hermione as they and the others walked back towards the main house.

"It's lovely," Hermione remarked. "It's clear that they have some wealth, but it's not... _tacky,_ you know? It's almost like somewhere I would live myself if I had those kinds of funds."

"Yeah, I like it too. It is my favourite 'grandparent house', so to speak." Anahita nodded.

So far, so good.

Hermione liked it here on Romulea so far.

She liked what little she had seen of it and the home they were staying in was actually quite nice...

She wondered where Harry was now. Was he at one of his Magix friend's homes? Was he off exploring? Did he somehow sneak back into Britain and was doing what he could against Voldemort there now?

He'd refused to say, so far all she knew, he could have been doing the latter.

But if he _was_ doing the latter... going back to fight Voldemort now... he would have told her so, _right?_ She had promised to be by his side in the end and even with her current situation with living and learning in Tir Nan Og, she had _not_ forgotten about the war back home...

When she snapped herself out of her thoughts, it was to see Anahita looking at her quizzically.

"Are you thinking about Harry and the situation in your home world?" she guessed.

Hermione nodded. "I was. Being able to be safe in Tir Nan Og and travel from there to Magix and here, learning whatever I can while I can is great, but I can't feel truly... _right_ with Voldemort on the rampage at home..."

Anahita looked sympathetic. "I cannot pretend to feel the same way as I (thankfully) do not have a murderous evil wizard after me and my family and friends specifically, while also waging war in my home world, but I suppose I can _try_ to understand. I suppose I would always feel on edge with that kind of thing happening on Lucis. You know, if you would like, we could always practice some combat magic in that practice room Grandfather showed you and the others..."

Hermione nodded, remembering the section of the basement they had been shown on tour, which had been remodelled in order for anyone to 'let loose with their magic' at any time, without causing harm to other areas of the house.

"That sounds like a plan. Even though I have been living in Tir Nan Og, I haven't gotten the chance to practice with any of the fairies there..."

"Then you may practice with me!" Anahita started to look excited. "I have been curious as to what our magic could do against the other and if it is possible to converge them. We wouldn't have time to do any extensive testing of course, but we could answer at least a few questions about our powers that way!"

Hermione felt herself start to get excited at the idea. "I look forward to it! Let's go for it, then!"

Anahita was practically grinning from ear to ear as they finally arrived back at her room. "We can talk about it more later. For now, let's get ready for dinner and for you meeting my Grandmother. I think that you will like her!"

* * *

Nadora Clairmont was a tall, imposing looking woman with pale blonde hair cut in a stylish bob and hazel eyes, over which she occasionally wore a pair of thin-framed black rectangular glasses, which was currently attached to the gold, thin, chain-link necklace around her neck.

"Welcome to Romulea ladies and pixies," her tone reminded her vaguely of McGonagall for some reason.

But then she smiled, and her expression became softer than any she had ever seen on the Transfiguration professor.

"I hope you enjoy your stay here. Athena and Anahita have told us so much about all of you."

She then spoke to each of the fairies and Hermione in turn.

"Lady Rainer, part of the nobility of Andros, yet you are lively and outgoing. Princess Krystal of Linphea. A sweetheart, apparently for the most part. Princess Roxy of Tir Nan Og. Intelligent enough, yet always willing to jump into the fray. And then there's Hermione..."

Mrs Clairmont's gaze lingered on her just a _bit_ longer than it had on the others. "Part of a hidden magical community on Earth- completely separate from Roxy's realm. Both highly intelligent and brave, willing to do whatever it takes to get things done."

At these descriptions, the other girls all turned to look at the twins with eyebrows raised, but Athena and Anahita looked completely unashamed, merely shrugging at the looks they were getting.

"You all sound like various characters in some of my novels. I will have to give you copies of them at some point before you go," she beamed at them. "I think you would like them!"

Rainer squealed in excitement.

"Alright then. Let's get going, shall we? Beaufort's got a table waiting for us!" Mr Clairmont gestured towards the door and they all followed in excitement.

* * *

Hermione found herself having a good time as she socialised with the other girls and the elder Clairmonts.

The restaurant they had ended up at- owned by a fellow they called Beaufort (and the restaurant itself was called _Beaufort's_ ) ended up being a semi casual restaurant that served many foods that she had never heard of before.

Still, the food was enjoyable enough and she found herself reaching for a helping of what looked to her like purple baked mashed potatoes.

"So, what are we doing for the rest of the week?" Anahita asked her grandparents.

"We have a few museums and parks in mind, plus if you're interested, we can always arrange tours of our workplaces, which I think you would find interesting enough..." Mr Clairmont looked thoughtful.

Rainer looked as if she was ready to jump out of her seat in sheer excitement.

"Plus Axion Industries is always available for tours. If you girls are interested in how potions products are produced, I highly recommend it!" Mrs Clairmont said.

"I would be rather interested in seeing how potions are made here," Hermione spoke up. "I mean, my former Potions professor wasn't a good teacher at all, but that hasn't diminished my interest in the subject at all!"

"Potions is one of my favourite subjects, actually," Krystal added. "and I've used some of their products before. I would love to go there and see whatever I can of how they do their stuff!"

"Can't say the same about Potions being one of my favourite subjects," Rainer shrugged. "but I am interested in their stuff since I've used it too. I'd definitely go."

"I'm actually interested in seeing how they would mass produce potions too. I'm totally down for it!" Roxy declared.

"Then that's settled. We'll add that to the agenda," Mrs Clairmont nodded.

"Now, how about... _dessert?_ " Mr Clairmont suggested.

"YES!" they answered in unison, making the Clairmont couple laugh amusedly.

* * *

After getting back to the house that evening, the girls and their pixies had freshened up and gotten dressed for bed, but as none of them felt like sleeping, they all ended up gathered in the living room, watching an action movie that was apparently based on one of Mrs Clairmont's novels.

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Crookshanks playing with Nyree (the Clairmont cat, who looked vaguely like a mix between a Persian and a Siamese, sharing one of Nyree's toys.

Apparently, this was something greatly out of character for the Romulean feline, as she was known to be quite vicious to other family cats, but for some reason, had taken a liking to Crookshanks... at least they weren't engaged in a Battle Royale.

Magic or no magic, that would not have been _any_ fun to part...

She returned her attention to the movie, idly feeding some popcorn to Camilla, who was seated on her lap.

Her Romulean stay had started quite nicely, with the Clairmonts showing themselves to be wonderful hosts and the other girls proving quite pleasant, if not... lively to be around.

Plus she and Anahita had agreed to test out their magic against one another tomorrow, so that was _definitely_ something she was looking forward to.


	14. Chapter 14

Hermione sat on a bench somewhere in the expansive backyard of the Clairmont property, trying to call Harry on her cell phone, but each time she tried, his phone only rang on and on until it reached Harry's voicemail.

After the fifth attempt she had made that day, she sighed and put away the phone.

She had been on Romulea for two days already and had wanted to update her best friend on all the adventures she had been having so far on this planet.

With the Clairmonts, plus Roxy, Krystal and Rainer, she had been to two notable museums (where she had indeed learnt quite a lot), went shopping (where she brought several spell books and some potions ingredients she wanted to experiment with), went to some parks, plus they had already toured the headquarters of the publishing house that published all of Mrs Clairmont's... _Nadora's..._ books.

 _Right._

Both Clairmonts had insisted that they call them Bertram and Nadora.

She would have to remember that...

What was Harry off doing though, that he had not answered his phone all day? It was not like him at all.

She knew that he did not have classes, plus she had tried calling at different types of day in case he was out and about, but still...

She sighed again.

Harry was an adult who did not have to answer to anyone and certainly not her, so it was not as if he _had_ to answer her calls...

Perhaps he was off exploring somewhere where there was terrible signal.

Or maybe he had left his phone behind when going out that day.

Whatever it was, she was sure he was okay.

* * *

Roxy did not exactly seem to share the same sentiment that she did however, as she found out when she returned inside the main house and found her and the others gathered in the living room.

"Roxy, please be reasonable about this. Harry is a grown man, in case you have forgotten that little fact. He may be your boyfriend, but he doesn't have to keep you up to date on everything he does, does he?" Anahita spoke flatly.

Hermione hung behind a bit, watching the discussion.

Camilla, the only one in the room who had noticed her arrival, flew over to her and explained the situation.

"Apparently, she's been trying to call Harry all day too and she hasn't gotten through to him at all. Did you?" the pixie asked.

"Not even once," Hermione sighed. "I wonder what he's up to. I really do. I just can't help it..."

"Well, so does Roxy," Camilla remarked. "She's getting a bit antsy about it and the other fairies are trying to bring her back into reality."

"I don't even know what planet he could possibly be on!" Roxy exclaimed. "Why does he have to be so secretive?"

"As if you do not have any secrets of your own?" Rainer raised an eyebrow. "It is not as if you tell him everywhere _you_ go, now do you, Roxy? Besides, what if this is Voldemort related? He could be off on some sort of secret mission or training that he's not allowed to tell you about. Did you ever consider that, Roxy?"

"No!" Roxy exclaimed. "That idea just makes it worse!"

" _Come on,_ Roxy!" Athena exclaimed. "He has proven time and time again that he can take care of himself without you there!"

"She's right, you know," Athena agreed. "So just shut up and enjoy your time here. Worry about him needlessly some other day."

"Roxy," Hermione called out, finally announcing her presence to the others. "I have not been able to get through to him all day either and you know what I decided to do? _I let it slide._ Trust me when I say that worrying about Harry all the time will drive you stark raving mad. I had enough of that during our time at Hogwarts, so I try not to as much."

"You _SEE,_ Roxy?" Krystal shrieked, startling Cherie, who had been sitting next to her. "Hermione's known him for longer than any of us have and _she's_ not working herself up about it!"

"As I said before, it's not worth it to worry about Harry like you seem to be. There is absolutely no need to be acting like such a fusspot, honestly." Hermione shrugged, before going to claim a seat next to Anahita.

"What exactly is a 'fusspot' Hermione?" Anahita raised an eyebrow at her.

"A fusspot is _exactly_ what Roxy is being right now," Hermione gestured to the animal fairy, who looked vaguely offended.

"WELL THEN," Athena's loud and unsubtle attempt at a topic change startled them all. "Hermione, didn't you want to say that you wanted to do some spell experimentation with my _darling_ twin sister sitting next to you?"

Anahita raised an eyebrow. "Do you have a 'darling twin sister' elsewhere?"

Rainer and Krystal snickered.

Athena rolled her eyes.

"Well, yes. Would you want to now? It is not as if your grandparents have anything else planned for us for the rest of the day..." Hermione shrugged.

"True," Anahita agreed. "How about I meet you down in the basement in an hour. Does that sound acceptable to you?"

"It does indeed!" Hermione nodded. "I am in!"

"I must admit, I _am_ interested in seeing how this plays out," Roxy said. "I've seen Harry practicing against my mother and aunt in Tir Nan Og before, but this is sure to be different..."

"Fine. Now if you will all excuse me, I have a few things I would like to do before we have our meeting of minds and magic," Hermione grabbed a bottle of water from the table and headed out of the room, with Camilla flying close behind her.

* * *

Hermione had just finished changing into workout type clothes and pulling her hair back into a ponytail when her phone rang again.

She raised an eyebrow when she saw that it was Harry _finally_ returning her calls.

"Hello, Hermione. Just got done with what I was doing for the day, so I thought it best to return your multiple calls. What's up?" Harry asked.

"Oh, everything is fine here. Excellent, even. I have been enjoying myself quite a bit during my Romulean stay so far," Hermione smiled. "I am learning quite a lot as well!"

Harry chuckled. "Of course you _would_ turn a chance for a holiday into an educational trip."

"You know me too well," Hermione smirked. "And I suspect that you are doing the same."

"I suppose that you _could_ say that," Harry shrugged noncommittally.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Have you responded to Roxy's calls yet? Apparently, she's been trying to call you for a bit now and did not get through to you either."

"I will after I am done speaking with you. Are you okay? Are you managing to keep up with your training?" he asked her.

Hermione nodded. "Yes, yes. Admittedly, things are a bit more theory based than practically based since I got to Romulea, but that is going to change in a bit."

"How so?" Harry looked curious.

"Well, Anahita and Athena's grandparents have this basement that they basically converted into a magic practice area that wouldn't affect the rest of the property. Anahita and I decided to try and do a bit of an experiment with our powers. See how our different types of magic interact, you know? I'm sure that it is going to be _fascinating._ "

"A bit like how I've duelled with Morgana and Nebula then?" Harry asked.

"Well, without as much intensity as those, yes," Hermione admitted. "Perhaps we will test our shields and throw around a few offensive and defensive spells, but nothing as all out as you have done with the queen and former queen of Tir Nan Og..."

"Do you want to compare notes after you are done with Anahita?" Harry asked. "Who knows? What you learn today and what I have learnt from Morgana and Nebula should very well help us with our little problem back home..."

"Our little problem, he says," Hermione chuckled wryly. "He refers to Voldemort, his minions and all the things they have done as only a _little_ problem..."

"We will probably look back at this in several years and laugh."

"If we survive that long, that is."

"You have a point right there..."

Hermione sighed. "I ought to get going down to the basement. It is almost time for us to get started on this thing and the other fairies wanted to watch as well..."

"Let me know how it goes when you can. Oh, and I will try to call Roxy later so that she can stop worrying herself and annoying the rest of you..." Harry said.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Of course."

The call came to an end.

"Well," Hermione turned to Camilla, who had been hovering just out of the phone's projection range during the entire call. "It is nice to know that Harry is still alive and well, despite basically disappearing off the face of... _any_ planet, actually..."

Camilla nodded. "That is great and everything, but don't you have somewhere to be, Hermione?"

Hermione nodded. "You're right. Are you coming to watch?"

"Of course I am!" Camilla exclaimed. "I wouldn't miss it for the world! Besides, Livy is going to be there too and if she is going to watch Anahita, why shouldn't I come along to watch you?"

"Point taken," Hermione nodded. "Now let's get going!"

* * *

When Hermione got down to the basement, she found the fairies and other pixies already waiting.

"It is nice of you to join us, Hermione," Athena remarked. "at last..."

"Oh hush, you. We have barely been down here for five minutes and Hermione is not late..." Anahita rolled her eyes.

Athena's only response to that was to roll her own eyes and hold up her hand, which glowed an electric green briefly.

A clear, boxy sort of shield that looked more like glass rose up from the ground covering herself, Roxy, Krystal, Rainer and the pixies.

"A bit of insurance that our grandparents put in place _just_ in case anyone else was down here while the magic was flowing." Athena explained.

"That sounds quite reasonable," Hermione nodded.

"Indeed," Anahita motioned for Hermione to follow her a bit away from the shielded area and more into the centre of the room.

"Let us get down to business, shall we?" Anahita transformed, while Hermione drew her wand.  
"A nice, friendly duel to start off with, then we can compare some of our spells afterwards and take a few notes. If all goes well, we can take up the intensity in another session. Agreed?"

Hermione nodded. "Agreed."

"Very well. Let us begin!" Anahita started off with an energy blast (which was of a colour that Hermione could best describe as aged pages in a book) that Hermione managed to easily counter with a cry of _"Protego!"_

It was her turn to go on the offensive now; firing off a Stunner which Anahita narrowly avoided by flying out of the way.

Hermione smirked.

She began firing off several Stunners in rapid fire succession; mixing them up with various jinxes.

Anahita threw up a frontal shield that resembled an open book, which managed to block all of the incoming spells that Hermione had thrown at her, although not without obvious difficulty, as she was pushed back several feet.

"Rapid fire spell casting, I see. Two can play at that game!" Anahita exclaimed, flying slightly off the ground as she began casting her own spells in rapid fires succession, some of which Hermione had to physically dodge, as the fairy had left no time for her to cast any protective shields of any kind whatsoever.

If this was what Anahita had referred to as a friendly duel, then Hermione found herself quite looking forward to what constituted a more aggressive duel, where she did not have to hold back as much.


	15. Chapter 15

"Welcome to Axion Industries, ladies and gentlemen!" the rather enthusiastic male tour guide greeted them at the potions laboratory, addressing not only Hermione, Rainer, Roxy, Krystal, Athena, Anahita, Bertram and Nadora, but also the other dozen or so people in the group.

Many of said tour group members were shooting both furtive and admiring looks at Nadora, who they obviously recognised from her work, but did not dare to approach her.

"There is a lot of fun and learning in store for you all here today. We are going to show you lots of behind the scenes happenings with our products. We will not be showing you everything though- we have to keep a _few_ trade secrets after all!" the tour guide, flashing a smile that somehow reminded her of a more sincere version of Lockhart (she still wanted to kick herself over the stupid crush she had on the fraud).

The group chuckled good naturedly as Hermione cleared her thoughts.

"Alright! At the end of it all, you will be directed to an area where you can try a few samples of our products and don't forget to patronise our gift shop on your way out!"

The group chuckled again.

"Okay then. Now that the boring intro stuff is out of the way, let us get going on our way!" he exclaimed, beckoning for them to follow.

"He seems to be a rather enthusiastic fellow," Hermione remarked.

"I think I would rather have a tour guide that enjoys his job rather than one that looks as if they could be related to one of those creatures called 'Dementors' that you have spoken to me about," Anahita retorted.

Hermione shuddered at the very thought. "I get your point. I truly do get your point..."

* * *

Along the way, Hermione enjoyed both acting like a typical tourist and learning many fascinating things about the mass potions producing company.

There was a display at one point of a timeline of the company's production, a condensed form of which was published in her tour booklet.

They got to look in at some of the machines that produced a few of the products, which ended up starting the wheels in her head about how to bring such a thing to Magical Britain.

They were not too great with mass producing potions compared to some other magical communities and none of them, as far as she was aware of, had a setup which seemed as efficient as this one.

Well, perhaps she would not be the one to introduce it, but she dearly hoped to be around when it happened.

If Britain survived its current Lord Voldemort situation, that is.

Not if, _when._

If she had anything to say about it, Harry was going to obliterate the dark wizard responsible for so much suffering back home and she was going to be along for the ride, helping him.

As if anything could keep her away from that.

She had pretty much signed on for that the moment she had become Harry's best friend.

But really... there was another thing to look forward to once Voldemort was finally no longer an issue.

Seeing how things in the Wizarding world could improve.

Not just industry wise, but also social wise.

How would blood relations be once the Death Eaters and their infamous leader were destroyed?

She was not naive enough to expect things to instantly become better, but she sure hoped that they _would_ become better...

She shook her mind to clear it as they found themselves in a 4D theatre to watch a film about the company, including its history testimonials from people who had used their products and even a short story involving the use of their products to 'save the day' which thoroughly entertained her.

Once the film was over, the group left the hall and as they waited for everyone to get out, they started chatting for a bit.

"So, ladies. How are you enjoying your stay on Romulea so far?" Bertram asked them.

"Oh, it really has been wonderful so far. Thank you so much for having us here, Bertram and Nadora!" Krystal exclaimed.

"It is not a problem at all, Krystal. You, Roxy, Hermione and Rainer have been delightful guests and it is always nice to meet any friends of the family," Nadora smiled.

"By the way, Roxy, Krystal," Bertram suddenly looked as if he had remembered something. "We actually know King Winetka and Queen Linley personally and their daughter Princess Sadiya has asked to meet you upon learning of your presence on the planet. We were told this morning, but in the rush to get out here, we just never remembered to tell you."

"Oh, that does not seem like it would be an issue. When can we go and see her?" Krystal asked.

"As early as tomorrow. The royal staff knows to expect you. Apparently Princess Sadiya is very eager to get to know fellow princesses around her age. As you may or may not know, she is the only daughter the family born into the family in recent times." Bertram shrugged.

"Dragon knows how I would feel in a home where I was outnumbered by boys..." Rainer shuddered at the very thought.

"Instead, your father gets to know how it feels in a household outnumbered by girls," Anahita pointed out.

"So?" Rainer shrugged. "What is your point? He should be glad to have us around!"

Hermione rolled her eyes at the byplay while Roxy and Krystal snickered.

At that point their tour guide started calling together the group to continue the tour and they went along.

* * *

Sometime later, after the official tour had been concluded, they were left free to roam all the public access areas on the compound.

They found themselves walking across a high bridge that went across an outdoor area in the centre of the compound, taking in the view of the activates around and below them.

"There is a cafeteria around here that actually serves a delightful array of meals. I would know, having been here before for something work related," Bertram spoke up. "What do you all say to having some lunch there?"

"That sounds like a good plan, Grandfather," Athena immediately agreed. "Please do lead the way!"

The others all agreed, by now starting to feel hungry due to all the walking they had done over the vast potions manufacturing complex.

"What kind of food do they serve there?" Krystal asked. "Do they have a few vegetarian options at the very least?"

"Plenty enough for both yourself and Roxy to have quite a wide variety of options, Krystal," Bertram nodded.

"Fantastic!" Roxy looked enthusiastic. "I feel like I would eat everything they have on the vegetarian menu right now!"

They had just made it to the other end of the bridge and were about to descend it when a loud explosion rocked the place, breaking off the part of the bridge they had been standing on.

Reacting quickly, the fairies had transformed, with Anahita barely catching Bertram, who had fallen over the edge.

"What the bloody hell was that? Hermione drew her wand, looking around wildly as she righted herself.

Glancing over the side of the bridge, they saw what was left of one supporting beam was burning while several people who had been on the bridge at the time clinging onto what was left of it for dear life, with people who had been nearer to the support beam on ground level scattered all over the place, with various degrees of injuries.

Though thankfully, they were not literally scattered all over the place...

While it was true that she had seen some horrible things in her relatively short life, but she was not prepared to see that level of gore ever again.

Though, she thought with a shudder, given what she was a part of back home, there was the distinct possibility of witnessing more gore...

"Let us go. We need to get out of here. Perhaps there was a freak accident in one of the potions laboratories..."

"Yes... that would probably be the wisest course of action..." Anahita nodded.

"Surely we could try to help some of these people before we go?" Nadora looked worried.

Then, another explosion occurred in another part of the complex, looking like what Hermione could best describe as an atomic explosion.

"I could believe that one explosion was a freak accident; some equipment gone faulty or some wrong ingredient mixed in, perhaps someone overheated or chilled some potions ingredients for too long. However..." Roxy trailed off.

"More than one explosion in such a close time frame to the other, this has got to be intentional. The odds are certainly for it!" Hermione finished.

"Agreed!" Anahita, Athena, Rainer and Krystal exclaimed in unison.

"Let's go try to help some people! I am a healer! Surely I could render some assistance?" Krystal looked antsy.

Then the third explosion rocked the place and they all sprung into action, Athena and Anahita carrying Bertram and Nadora respectively as they flew down to ground level, while Roxy grabbed her to fly down.

* * *

It was complete and utter pandemonium.

People ran around in a panic; screaming and crying, while others lay around, groaning and whimpering in pain.

Their group ended up splitting up as they made it to ground level, with one group consisting of Bertram, Krystal, Athena and Rainer and the other consisting of Hermione herself, Nadora, Anahita and Roxy.

"We can help people get out of here. That I think is one of the most important things right now!" Nadora exclaimed.

Hermione nodded. "I agree. I am not all that great with healing spells, _unfortunately,_ "

Given what she was up to with Harry, she saw the need to _greatly_ remedy that.

"but I can do great shield charms and transportation spells." she continued.

"I can attest to that!" Anahita exclaimed, no doubt remembering the first and so far only time that they had pitted their powers against one another.

"Good, good." Nadora nodded, looking around for anyone that might need help. "If we end up splitting up even further, we can all meet back up at the house!"

Hermione herself spotted what looked like a mother and a preteen son, running around frantically, as if looking for someone and sprinted over to them, wand firmly in her grasp.

"Is there any way that I can help you?" she asked the frantic woman.

"My husband and my daughters!" she exclaimed, looking on the verge of tears. "They were out there in that part of the complex when the explosions happened!" she pointed towards the side of the complex where the atomic looking explosion had occurred.

"Luckily, I've been there, so I could try Apparating as close as I can in, but first..." she grabbed mother and son by the wrists, Apparating them to a par just across from Axion Industries, where terrified park goers were also running in panic and she could see the various emergency services making their way towards the mega potions laboratory.

"You should be safe now," she told the startled looking mother and son, who thankfully had not been Splinched.

"What does the rest of your family look like?" she asked.

Her hands trembling as fumbled in her purse, the woman pulled out a cell phone and showed a family photo which included the father and daughters, who looked even younger than the boy.

"Alright, I'm going back in!" Hermione exclaimed.

Apparating away, she found herself right back in the middle of chaos.

There were others also doing their best to help the situation.

Some, like fairies and witches, had transformed and were trying to help heal (or at least stabilise) the injured, some were transporting others out via portal or teleportation.

Still other people physically carried out people as best they could.

"Can you help us?" a fairy flew over to her, from a mixed group of fairies and witches. "We saw you use magic just now. We're trying to get inside the building to see if we can find any survivors." she gestured to the nearest former building, which was now mostly a pile of rubble, with few sections left standing.

Somewhere behind the fairy and in the sky, she saw Anahita flying while carrying a few people in what looked like an upside down half dome shield.

Returning her attention to the ground bound fairy, she nodded.

"That's what I came for," she declared. "I have a few specific people in mind, but if there is anyone else I can help, then I am willing!"

She followed the fairy over to their group and after a quick huddle and declaration of magic skills, they all decided what they were going to do.

Hermione was going to be one of their Shielders; providing them with cover from falling debris and protecting against wayward potions and potion ingredients.

Their jobs cut out for them, they made their way inside, with Hermione briefly wondering how the ones in the original group she came here with were doing.


	16. Chapter 16

It was dark as Hermione and her impromptu rescue group made their way further and further into the now unstable structure on the potions manufacturer's complex.

The little light they had came from some on the few flashlights they had either brought with them to the complex (for whatever reason) or had conjured up.

The fairies or witches who could actively produce it via their magic powers had also done so to do their part towards contributing light, but not too strongly as they neither wanted to hamper their vision by bringing in too much light or they feared that too much power in their spells could cause any sort of negative reactions with lingering potions, potions ingredients and potions fumes.

Hermione shuddered at the thought.

While Professor Snape had been a horrid teacher and a horrid person in general, she had learnt enough in his Potions class to imagine the effects of such an interaction.

It was not a lovely image to have gracing your mind.

At all.

 _Especially_ at a time like this, in the current situation she was in.

As time moved on, they eventually managed to recover several people (all of whom were in various state of injury) and the rescue group itself spoke very little as they progressed.

As they passed an arch which had somehow remained standing (although precariously so) despite the rubble around it, she heard some cries beyond it.

Signalling to the others that she was going in to check on it, she did so.

Several metres in, the sound got louder as she evidently got closer.

Turning to her right, she saw three pairs of feet stuck under some rubble, two of them smaller than the third pair of feet.

"Somebody... help us!" one young female voice screamed while another simply cried and whimpered.

"Help is coming. I am here. You will be okay," Hermione spoke as soothingly as she could as she immediately worked to free them.

As she did, she eventually realised that these three people were the same people that she had been looking for specifically- the ones that she had promised to try and find for the mother and son pair that she had helped earlier.

The two little girls were both injured, but conscious, but the father was unconscious and in seemingly a much worse state.

Hiding a grimace so as not to alarm the two small girls, she did as best as she could to brace all three of them on stretchers and brought them out to the main group, who, at that point, had decided that they had all done the best that they could do.

Moving as quickly as they could, they made their way out of the structure, only to be greeted by rescue officials, who took all the injured off their hands and thanked them for their help.

The law enforcement briefly spoke to them, also thanking them for their help but also seeing to it that they got out of the complex and left any rescuing left to be done to the people actually formally trained to do it.

As she was leaving, she butted into Roxy, Nadora and Anahita, but with one critical, rather obvious change to the latter's fairy form.

Anahita noticed her staring at her new form and smiled. "I see that you see that I have achieved my Enchantix form," she spoke, sounding vaguely amused. "It is a long story and one that I shall tell once we all get out of here, figure out what the hell is going on and most importantly, when we find out what happened to Grandfather, my sister, Krystal and Rainer."

Hermione nodded.

"We agreed to meet up back at the house should we get separated, did we not?" Nadora asked, the older woman looking worn out, yet relieved and looking otherwise unharmed. "We should make our way there and see if we can find out anything at all about this madness."

"What if harm has come to them, though?" Anahita pointed out. "Then they would not exactly be able to return to the house, now would they?"

"That is true, Anahita, but let us try not to worry about such a thing now. I am sure that they are fine and that they will be fine."

Although Nadora spoke confident words, the tone in her voice did not convey confidence at all.

Once they made it outside the complex, they observed a multitude of different people.

Camera crews and other workers from media houses, various medical and law enforcement workers and various other people who had either just been in the vicinity of the place when the explosions happened or had been in the complex itself and managed to escape it.

Among them were the mother and son she had helped earlier.

"Hold on for a second, I need to speak to these folks," Hermione inclined her head towards them.

Nadora nodded.

"I am back!" she waved and shouted at them to get their attention. "They are out! Not with me obviously, but some workers took them to the nearest hospital!"

"Hospital?" the woman looked vaguely relieved, but still worried. "What happened to them? No wait, I can probably guess what happened to them. I need to go to them. We need to go to them. Thank you so much!"

The woman practically dragged her son off as she ran off in search of transportation to that hospital.

Hermione smiled sadly, before turning back to Nadora, Anahita and Roxy.

They had detransformed while she had been speaking to the mother and son and stood there, seemingly just waiting for her.

"Come on, let's go. I can see the media people starting to recognise me and I am not prepared to deal with any sorts of interviews right now," Nadora looked annoyed. "They will likely start calling my public relations people later about seeing me here and want interviews since they realise that I am gone, but any interviews like that will come on my own time and only AFTER we have all found out what really happened here today. I do not wish to add any sort of fuel to the..." she glanced back at the complex some parts of which were still burning quite strongly. "figuratively that is and _certainly_ not literally."

Nadora made a portal and quickly rushed them though it before the media could even get close to them.

* * *

"Hermione! We were so worried! We were watching this documentary on the television in the living room and then we heard about an explosion at the place you were supposed to be at today and are you okay?" Camilla rambled on, after having crashed into her as soon as she crossed the main threshold of the Clairmont home.

"What are they saying about the explosions there?" Hermione heard Nadora ask Livy.

"They're saying that they do not know what could have caused them yet, but they are not ruling out the possibility of foul play!" the pixie of messages exclaimed.

"I would not be surprised it if was foul play," Nadora murmured. "A company that large and with that much success must have surely bred some sort of hatred and jealousy of it over the years."

"Whether that was through competitors, a disgruntled employee, a disgruntled customer or just some random psycho looking to cause some destruction for fun!" Livy exclaimed.

"I had not even thought of those..." Roxy murmured. "Anyway, I think I would like to call my family. They should know what happened here today."

"And I really should call Rigel first before I talk to Mahalia and Phyllis. He knew that I would be taking his daughters to Axion Industries today after all. If he knows what has happened, he must be terrified for Athena, Anahita, his father _and_ myself!" Nadora sunk into a chair, looking especially tired.

Hermione herself claimed the nearest armchair.

"Would it not be best to wait and see if my sister and Grandfather are okay first?" Anahita asked.

"I think he deserves _some_ sort of good news to calm him down a bit!" Nadora exclaimed.

 _"Here I was, thinking that I would not have to go through this sort of thing while away from the rest of Earth... well, from Earth itself actually, since I am not even on the same planet anymore..."_ Hermione thought. _"But that was rather stupid of me to think. If those explosions were deliberate- and I think so- so many explosions in near rapid succession... I know it is a potions factory and accidents can happen, equipment can glitch out and be faulty... but so much of it and to that degree?"_

She was broken out of her thoughts by the sounds of Athena, her grandfather, Krystal and Rainer finally arriving.

"You too?" Athena was saying as she hugged her twin tightly. "Congratulations, Anahita!"

"You two what?" she asked, puzzled.

"We both got our Enchantix out of this horrid experience today! It was literally the only good thing about this whole mess, but hey... We got our Enchantix and _we are all still alive!_ " Athena looked more relieved than truly excited.

"And I am so glad you are!" Pam hugged Athena as tightly as she could, with the fairy hugging her back.

Bertram looked worse for wear than his wife did, but he was observing the conversation rather than partaking in it.

"If you are up to it, Hermione perhaps when we have all recovered from this ordeal a bit, we can see how my Enchantix power compares to your power now!" Anahita suggested.

Hermione nodded. "That sounds like a plan."

"Aren't you supposed to be letting your family know that you got out of that mess at Axion Industries okay?" Krystal pointed out.

"I think that they are trying to find out for themselves," Athena raised an eyebrow at the caller id on her phone as she pulled it out the moment it started ringing.

"Father," she answered the unasked question.

"Excuse us all..." Nadora ushered the twins and her husband into another room.

After they had been gone for a few seconds, Zing piped up.

"Well," she started. "I do not think that this is how you expected your vacation to go..."

"Gee. You think, Zing?" Caramel snapped.

"And it was such a lovely day outside too, only to be ruined by something like this," Cherie pouted.

"I know right?" Camilla agreed.

"All I know is that if it turns out that it was some crazy person who blew the place, I hope they catch them soon!" Rainer exclaimed.

"I sure hope so as well, I mean, I leave home where crazy, murderous maniacs do things like this on a regular basis... only to come upon something like this here... if it does in fact turn out to be a person responsible for this mess..." Hermione said.

Camilla flew over and rested in the crook of her arm.

"Well, while they are all over there having a family phone call, I need to call mine," Rainer pulled out her own phone as she walked out of the room, with Krystal following shortly afterwards.

"You okay, Hermione?" Roxy asked. "I mean, Harry asked you to come to Tir Nan Og to get away from that madness in your home country... only to wind up in another kind of madness here..."

"It is not as if it's your fault, Roxy. We do not even know the facts of all that happened today were cause by someone with bad intent," Hermione pointed out.

"But it could have been!" Roxy exclaimed.

"It could have, yes. _There is one bright side to this at least..._ " Hermione murmured.

"Oh?" Roxy raised an eyebrow. "And what is that?"

"It was not Death Eaters. If it was, instead of not knowing if people died today or not, we would have _seen_ for ourselves that people had died. They are not the types to be content with mere property damage."

Roxy shuddered. "And you and Harry have to deal with people like that? I know you are both doing what you can and getting lots of help but to have to deal with that?"

"Something like this really puts things into perspective, doesn't it?" Hermione smiled wryly.

"It does," Roxy admitted. "Anyway, like I mentioned earlier I really need to call my family. They need to hear about this from me and not the news..."

As Roxy left the room, Hermione sighed, reminded that she didn't have any family left to call.

Well, neither did Harry... but she couldn't call him either, as he said he would be busy all day today...

"Come on, Camilla," she got up, stretching. "We might as well get started on the books Nadora gave us..."


	17. Chapter 17

Ever since Hermione had first met Amore, the witch and pixie still talked on a semi regular basis and one of the recommendations that the pinkish-red haired pixie had made to her was keeping a diary.

She had been hesitant at first, but after thinking it over (and with some additional prodding from her own bonded pixie), she had finally agreed to give keeping a diary a try.

Both pixies said that just writing out her random (or not so random) thoughts and experience could help her get through exactly what she was feeling and so far, she found that it actually did work out for her.

She _did_ enjoy writing, after all.

She had modified an old, brown leather journal her parents had once given her, but she had never used, charming it so that it appeared that there was no visible way to unlock it, but it opened at her touch.

Sitting alone in Anahita's room (she and Krystal were downstairs with the other fairies, Camilla and the other pixies, watching the news to see if any interesting developments had occurred relating to the explosions at Axion Industries), she opened the diary and began to write.

 _"Well, another interesting development has occurred in my life. It seems as if everywhere I go, I get involved in some sort of trouble. I now vaguely understand what Harry says about him not finding trouble, but trouble finding him. I wrote about the wonderful time I have been having on Romulea so far but now, I must write about how I got caught up in a terrorist attack here while touring a major potions laboratory here a few days ago._

 _The only good thing about it was that it was not a Death Eater related attack. That much I know, but I still do not know exactly who or what was responsible for it._

 _Luckily the Clairmonts, Roxy, Krystal, Rainer and myself, who had picked that unfortunate day to go touring the place came out of it fine, with Athena and Anahita even gaining their Enchantix out of the whole mess by saving their grandparents..."_

Hermione paused in her writing, trying to think of how she wanted to describe the experience, when Camilla practically slammed the door open as she flew in, clearly eager to get to her.

"Hermione, Hermione! Come downstairs and see what's happening on the television now!" Camilla exclaimed.

"What happened?" Hermione closed the diary as she turned to face the excited pixie.

"The news on the television said that they found out who did it!" Camilla announced. "They have the guy's picture up and everything! Apparently it was some guy that had been working there for _years,_ but then they fired him for what they call _'unauthorised experiments'!_ "

"Well, unauthorised experiments would certainly get a person fired from a job like that," Hermione mused. "Let's go then. I want to see this news report too..."

* * *

As Hermione entered the living room, she found all the fairies and pixies sitting there, watching the news with rapt attention.

As a pink-haired woman with spectacles read the news on the screen, a picture of a man who had a rather uncanny resemblance to Professor Snape (except his hair was purple and did not appear to be _quite_ as greasy) appeared next to her.

"Odd man with an odd name," Hermione noted, reading the name that captioned the picture. "However, seeing the sorts of names that I have since actively becoming a member of Britain's Wizarding community, this one is somewhat middle range, I suppose..."

"Yeah, apparently the guy was trying to create more powerful versions of some of the riskier potions and even had the audacity to use the company's potions resources to make his own personal products." Anahita explained as Hermione squeezed in between her and Roxy on the sofa (with Athena and Krystal perched somewhat precariously on its arms).

"Oh, oh! Look!" Krystal pointed at the television excitedly. "They've tracked him down and they've surrounded his house!"

"Idle thought here: with all of this going on, does Princess Sadiya still want to see Krystal and Roxy?" Hermione asked.

"Another time she said," Krystal practically waved her off as she focused on the events playing out on the television, which were now looking as if they were part of the trailer for an action movie.

"Yeah, with this going on, her parents said that it would be best to come and visit another time," Roxy shrugged. "And apparently they've heard about how the rest of you helped out with rescuing and helping people and all of that, so they want to meet you all too sometime."

"Okay, enough of that! The movie is starting!" Athena exclaimed.

 _"Movie?"_ Anahita raised an eyebrow at her sister. "That is a police chase you are watching! Not a move at all!"

Indeed it did appear to be a movie, as the suspect's car had somehow managed to fly out of the rooftop garage and zoom off before the local law enforcement could surround it properly.

Hermione and Roxy shot one another surprised looks at that latest development and even as the older Clairmonts entered the room to join them in watching the events play out.

Somehow in the process, Athena had acquired a large bowl of popcorn which she shared with Krystal and which Anahita, Roxy and herself looked on in amazement.

Just then, there was a loud bang as the police set up some sort of trap up ahead (which appeared to be some sort of large net created by vibrating energy beams), cutting off the car (as the driver had no time to react and avoid it), sending it careening into the ground, where it bounced several times before skidding along the ground and coming to a complete stop.

"I am amazed that that vehicle did not shatter to bits!" Hermione exclaimed her eyes widening. "I mean, look at the force of that impact!"

"I recognise that brand of vehicle," Nadora said, speaking up for the first time since entering the room to join them in watching the news. "It is known to be a _very_ durable brand and is quite popular amongst the law enforcement and military of this planet."

Hermione nodded, accepting the explanation as they continued to watch the news and saw the man being apprehended live on television.

Once the action was over, the camera cut back to the studio where the female news reader from before was joined by two other women and a man, who were now all discussing the events which had just played out.

* * *

Hermione spent most of her last few days on Romulea at the Clairmont residence, none of them really feeling to go out, as they had all done most of what they had wanted to do there, even prior to what she now referred to as: _"The Axion Industries Incident"_.

Between watching further reports about the Incident (which dominated the Romulean media, reminding her of similar incidents that had been covered like this on Earth), studying, practicing magic with Anahita and reading the books that Nadora had given her, the time flew by rather quickly.

However, all good things must come to an end, after all, and the Clairmonts were soon seeing off their guests as most of them had to be back at Alfea in two days and wanted to spend some time at home (with Athena and Anahita leaving directly for the college from their grandparents' home instead of going back home like the others).

"It was nice hosting you here, Roxy and Hermione," Bertram said. "I do hope that you managed to have a good time here despite the unfortunate incident at Axion Industries..."

"Don't worry about that, Bertram," Roxy waved dismissively. "We had a good time regardless of that. I mean, not to be dismissive of the people that were harmed in the whole fiasco, but..."

"We know," Nadora smiled in understanding. "We understand what you meant, Roxy."

"I agree. Thank you for hosting us. I did manage to have a pretty good time regardless of what happened and I also managed to learn so much from you both!" Hermione added.

"Not to mention the experiments we managed to conduct!" Anahita piped up.

"Exactly!" Hermione exclaimed. "Fascinating stuff really, seeing how our powers interact. We really should meet up again and compare notes!"

"And I think you should share those notes with me... with both of us, actually," Bertram said, gesturing to both himself and his wife and looking greatly interested. "It is _always_ fascinating to learn about another side to magic."

Athena sighed. "Only my sister would somehow make what was supposed to be a fun vacation turn into some sort of research trip..."

"Are you saying that you are not interested in what Hermione and I are doing?" Anahita raised an eyebrow.

"I did not say so and you damn well know that I enjoy learning as well, but I do know that I know how to _relax._ " Athena retorted. "Unlike you."

"Children, children," Roxy piped up. "I hate to break up this lovely sibling moment, but we really should be going. My mother is expecting me back in Tir Nan Og and I am sure that Hermione is _just itching_ to get back to the libraries there."

Hermione rolled her eyes.

She wasn't _nearly_ as obsessive with books as she used to be.

Now, she just focused on learning the essentials for what she hoped would get her through helping Harry with Voldemort, once the initial wonder and amazement had subsided.

Anything else could come after that.

Bertram and Nadora chuckled. "Very well then. Off you go ladies," Nadora raised her hand and a portal formed behind herself, Roxy, their pets and their bonded pixies.

"If you ever come to Romulea again, please be sure to stop by and pay us a visit!" Bertram waved as they began to step through the portal.

Hermione felt the magic of the portal wash over her as she turned to wave back at them until the portal closed, before reopening at their destination.

* * *

"Welcome back to Tir Nan Og," Morgana stood ready to welcome them back as they stepped through the portal on the other side. "How are you?"

"We are fine, Mom, all things considered," Roxy smiled.

"Indeed. We go on vacation and end up caught up in a terrorist attack. We managed to have a good time before that though and I don't know about your daughter, but I learnt a lot of things." Hermione shrugged.

Morgana nodded. "That isll well and good, considering your main goal right now."

The Earthling witch scowled briefly. "I know. This is just a sample of what life with Harry is like, Roxy. Attempt to just enjoy yourself and enjoy life in general and along comes a murderous maniac who wants to end you- partly because he is evil and partly because his ego will not be satisfied until he manages to finish off the job..."

Roxy frowned as well. "Well, I do not plan on being scared off by Voldemort anyway, so he can take his plans and-"

 _"Okay, Roxy."_ Morgana cut her daughter off. "That is enough of that for now. You came back here early to spend time with both your father and myself, not discuss Voldemort. Besides, Voldemort is _Harry's and Hermione's_ fight. Not yours. As I have reminded you _several times before._ "

Hermione, Camilla and even Zing managed to look and feel awkward.

"I think I will just make myself scarce..." Hermione spoke quietly as she carried her things (and Crookshanks) off, with Camilla flying close behind her.

* * *

 _"I am back on Earth again, Diary. It feels off in retrospect to know that I left the planet to go and socialise with what I also realise in retrospect are literal aliens from an alien planet though they are not like the ones that science fiction portrays in the slightest._

 _That random thought aside, fun (terrorist attack aside) time is over now and it's time for me to settle back into my proper routine of study and practice, plus the lessons I agreed to tutor._

 _When this mess with Voldemort is settled (hopefully in victory for my side), perhaps I will look into travelling and learning a bit before I settle into what I am aiming for in my career path._

 _Tir Nan Og and Romulea are just a sample of what is out there, both on Earth and off it, and I intend to liveand see as much of it as possible."2 `_


	18. Chapter 18

A few months passed and Hermione got back into her regular routine in the land of the Earth Fairies.

She had gotten back into her studies; helped Rachel and the other students that she had been assigned with their own studies, practiced her magic, went exercising, did more research into topics that interested her- _including_ how she could have bonded with Camilla since she was not a fairy...

All in all, while she was truly grateful to be safe here, she was also _bored._

She wanted to be doing more than studying.

She wanted to be doing something that would be more helpful to her home country than just staying here and being safe.

After all, it was not in her nature at all to just sit by and do nothing if there was some sort of injustice going on and to say that what Voldemort was doing back home was an injustice...

Well, that would be _quite_ the understatement.

She mentioned this to Harry after she had gotten back to her room from her tutoring sessions of the day and he agreed with her.

 _"This feeling of watching... and waiting... I hate it,"_ Harry muttered as they got into their cell phone conversation.

"I don't like it either, but I can hardly just go back either, can I?" Hermione shrugged, glancing back at Camilla, who was playing with Crookshanks and riding him around as if he was a horse.

She was still surprised that he actually allowed himself to be treated that way, but he seemed to actually _enjoy_ it.

She smiled at the sight, before returning her full attention to Harry.

As cute as Camilla and Crookshanks were being right now, she was discussing more important matters with her best friend.

 _"I mean, Remus keeps me informed as much as he can and occasionally Dobby helps out there where he can since I can't have him here and he'd feel more useful that way, but... I really just want this to end. I want a whole year to pass without some maniacs attacking me!"_ Harry exclaimed.

Hermione raised an eyebrow. Harry deserved more than just a year of peace and she told him so.

"Just a year? Harry, you of all people deserve a bloody lifetime of peace!" she exclaimed.

Harry sighed. _"Don't I know it... I do feel better about my chances against Voldemort now, but still. I'm well aware of the fact that he's got years of experience on me. And he's willing to play dirty and cheat more."_

"That just means that you'll have to play dirtier and be an even bigger cheat than he is, won't you?" she spoke matter-of-factly.

Hermione nearly scoffed when Harry's eyebrows hit his hairline.

 _"Wow, Hermione Granger of all people, saying that I should cheat and break the rules?"_

"We're in the middle of a war where we're at the top of Voldemort's hit list. I think that we can afford to throw the rules out the window for this one," Hermione rolled her eyes. "Obviously Voldemort's not going to play fair himself, so why should you give him that advantage when doing that will get us killed?"

Spending time with the Tir Nan Og fairies, who, apparently for fairies, were quite willing to use dark magic and play dirty... well, it seems as if their attitude had rubbed off on her a bit.

They were right.

Your enemies were not going to play fair after all, so why should she?

Harry got a teasing look on his face before speaking again.

 _"I do recall a time in our First Year when you said that there was a fate worse than getting killed..."_

Hermione resisted the urge to facepalm.

"I was bloody _twelve!_ " she exclaimed, feeling indignant at that particular reminder of her younger self.

 _"Most twelve year olds still value being alive over being expelled,"_ Harry pointed out.

Hermione closed her eyes and took a deep breath, resisting the urge to tell him off.

 _"Anyway,"_ Harry grinned at her. "I've got things to do. See you!"

Hermione sat up straighter.

 _He wouldn't dare._

"Harry!" she exclaimed sharply. "Don't you dare-"

It was too late.

Harry had already ended the call.

Hermione let out a screech of frustration that startled Camilla and Crookshanks, sending the latter scampering for cover, which in turn sent Camilla tumbling to the ground.

"What was that all about?" Camilla groaned from where she had landed on the ground.

"Sorry darling," Hermione knelt down to pick the dazed pixie up. "It was just Harry being annoying. Glad to see he still has a bit of that old personality in him, but _still..._ "

"I understand," Camilla nodded. "Well, that call aside, you did work hard today, so why not go and relax for a bit? You could go to the beach or go for a walk through the forest... or even visit that hot spring you found the other day..."

Hermione smiled at the thought.

"That's right. I went for a morning run, then I studied for a bit, practiced a few spells, taught the children... With all of that behind me for the day... Well, I suppose the hot spring _does_ sound nice," she admitted. "It's settled. We'll go there and relax for a bit, returning just in time for some supper."

"Sounds like a plan!" Camilla exclaimed. "I'm in!"

* * *

After her call with Harry, Hermione had gone to the hot springs with Camilla, spending just over an hour there, relaxing and just generally enjoying herself.

Adding in the time that she had spent walking to and from there at a leisurely pace, she had spent the better part of two hours away from her room in the palace and consequently her phone, which she had left behind.

Thus why the six missed calls from Harry had gone unnoticed.

They continued to remain so, until Harry's seventh attempt to reach her, this time the phone ringing after she had just finished showering and getting dressed.

Glancing at the phone and seeing that Harry had tried calling her six times previously while she was out, she raised an eyebrow before answering her best friend's call, although not yet enabling the speaker/projection function.

"Harry? What happened? Why so many calls?" she asked. "And so soon after we last spoke?"

"Hermione, _Gringotts._ The last Horcrux... Hufflepuff's Goblet... it is in a vault at Gringotts. Bellatrix Lestrange's vault!"

Out of the corner of her eye, Camilla met her glance and immediately left the room, sensing that this was something that Hermione would want to be alone for.

"Wait, what?" Hermione sunk into the nearby chair.

"Exactly what I said, Hermione. The last Horcrux that has to be destroyed before we meet Voldemort... it is in Bellatrix Lestrange's Gringotts vault!"

Hermione swore under her breath.

"Yeah, that was my first reaction to the news as well..." Harry chuckled darkly.

"Did you just get this information?" Hermione asked.

"Yes, from Remus. He told me that Dumbledore told him. I don't know how Dumbledore found out- likely through Bill, but... yes. The last Horcrux is in a highly secured Gringotts vault." Harry sighed.

Several jumbled thoughts passed through Hermione's head, but all of them basically added up to: "How the bloody hell are we going to pull _this_ one off?"

She broke the silence that had ensued.

"Well... breaking into a highly secured building guarded by beings who pretty much have no idea what the word 'mercy' even means... this should be a fun one," she said. "although I honestly would not have expected Voldemort to make it easy on the off chance that someone did find out about his Horcruxes..."

"Neither did I," Harry admitted. "but knowing this now... this is the last major step before we can end this all for good."

"Plus we would have to quickly after this, as once we move to get the Horcrux, he will find out about it if anything goes wrong..." Hermione began to worry.

"Hopefully nothing will go wrong... but let us just hope for the best and prepare for the worst..." Harry said.

Hermione rubbed her temples, feeling the beginning of a headache coming on.

"Something _always_ goes wrong," Hermione groaned. "It always has... during all our years at Hogwarts, something _inevitably_ goes wrong..."

Harry sighed. "True. That is indeed true. Well, for this, we will obviously need to plan. We cannot wing this, like we did out Hogwarts adventures."

"We need information. The layout of the bank, the workers there and their schedules, the security measures and so on..." Hermione counted them off on her fingers.

"Already on that, Hermione. I asked Reums to get Bill onto that. In the meantime, I will start gathering some supplies on my end and of course, continuing with my training as best as I can," Harry said.

"Right," Hermione said. "Please continue with that. I can do the same on my end. I will start working on some healing potions and whatever other supplies I feel could be useful for it, plus brushing up on certain spells. I also hope Bill manages to get that information for us quickly as the more time we have to get to know it, the better."

A long silence ensued between them again.

"So... I guess that feeling of watching and waiting is over now, isn't it?" Harry was the one who broke the silence this time.

Hermione's chuckle was humourless.

"I guess it is."

Harry sighed.

"Well then, I'll ask Remus to use Dobby to get the Gringotts information to you somehow when he gets it."

"And I will be sure to let you know when I get that information." Hermione said. "We will also need to set up a conference call with all the players involved in this, of course. We need to discuss this with all of them and then formulate a plan."

"Absolutely," Harry agreed. "this is one adventure that I am not about to rush into..."

Silence ensued again.

"So... until next time, then. Take care, Hermione." Harry ended the call.

"Yes..." Hermione slowly put the phone down before putting her head in her hands. "...take care."

After a few minutes, she got up, stretched and retrieved a bottle of water, before going back to her previous seat.

Taking a deep sip she began to mull over her thoughts.

"Ah, yes. Breaking into a Gringotts vault. This is not what I signed on for when I accepted my Hogwarts invitation... but it is what I signed on for when I agreed to be Harry's friend." she spoke aloud, before taking another sip.

Although, given the way that she had become friends with Harry in the first place (ignoring the twinge of her heart at the reminder of Ron, who had also been involved in that incident), she supposed it was a given.

Being friends with Harry Potter was dangerous.

She had experienced it directly before, plus with her status as a Muggle Born, the danger had only been amplified.

"I... I do not care, though." Hermione reassured herself. "I knew from the beginning that something like this would have to happen eventually. I did promise that I would stand with him to the very end and that I would go down fighting. Ron did..."

She paused to fight back potential tears.

After composing herself, she let herself go back to her previous line of thought.

"Harry is my best friend. Even if he was not, I would still want to fight for what is right. This though... this means that the end is coming. Once this last Horcrux is destroyed, there is nothing to stop Harry from going after Voldemort himself!"

She finished off the water and Vanished the bottle.

It was then that Camilla re-entered the room.

"Hermione, are you okay?" Camilla asked.

The pixie paused, taking a good look at Hermione's face.

"No. You do not have to answer that. I know that you are not okay, just by looking at your face! Did you get some bad news from back home?"

Hermione sighed.

"Camilla," she paused, trying to think of the right words to say. "we need to have a discussion about what is going to happen in the next few weeks and we need to have this discussion _now._ "

* * *

"You are going to have to leave to do something really dangerous soon?" Camilla asked. "But I do not want you to be in danger!" Camilla fretted.

"I know, but it is something that must be done in order for there to be peace in my home world. Besides, I made a promise to Harry that I would stand by him to the very end and I never _ever_ break a promise."

Camilla sighed. "You are right. I would never want you to break a promise that you made, especially if that promise was about doing something good for the world. I just don't want you to be hurt!"

Hermione hugged the pixie. "I don't want to be hurt either. I have got so much to live for and there are so many things that I wish to do with my life. I do _not_ plan on letting Voldemort ruin that for me."

"What will happen when you have to go do your thing? Who do I stay with?" Camilla asked. "I know that you would not want me to come!"

"You are right. It would be too dangerous for you to come. Perhaps you could just go back to Pixie Village for the time being. Don't worry about it," Hermione smiled reassuringly. "We shall work something out!"

"I hope so," Camilla spoke softly. "I love you so much, Hermione. I just don't want to lose you!"

"I know, Camilla," Hermione hugged her bonded pixie again. "I know."

* * *

The next day, Hermione went to teach her lessons as she usually did.

"So that is the end of our lesson today, Rachel. Do you have any questions?" Hermione asked her.

"No, I am fine. You are a really good teacher! I understood everything!" Rachel exclaimed. "Have you ever considered going into teaching once the war is over?"

Hermione chuckled. "No, dear. I do not plan on going into teaching. I plan on doing law one day. Working for the rights of those who have little or no rights at all."

"That is such a great ambition. Meanwhile, I don't know what I want to do yet..." Rachel sighed.

"You have time to figure that out, Rachel. There is no rush," Hermione smiled. "Now if you'll excuse me, there are some things that I have to do..."

With a wave, Hermione left the girl behind, Rachel's parents entering the room as Hermione was leaving.

On the way back to the palace, Hermione walked at a leisurely pace, going over tentative ideas for the Gringotts infiltration.

There was a potions laboratory on the island that she had access to and she had access to several potions ingredients that she could brew a few useful potions with...

"Miss Hermione!"

Dobby popping in startled her out of her thoughts.

Taking a moment to catch herself, she turned to face the House Elf.

"Yes, Dobby?"

"Dobby is being asked to give this to you, he is," Dobby held out a large envelope to her.

She immediately realised what it had to be

"Thank you very much for bringing this to me, Dobby." Hermione smiled at the House Elf.

"It is no problem for Dobby, Miss Hermione!" Dobby gave a little salute as he left with the same loud crack that he had come with.

Opening the envelope and sliding out the contents slightly, the contents confirmed her earlier guess.

The information needed to infiltrate Gringotts.


	19. Chapter 19

While Camilla was asleep that night, Hermione had her first in-depth look at the Gringotts information that Dobby had delivered to her earlier in the day.

The windows and curtains drawn tight and the doors locked (not that the royals to whom this castle belonged could not unlock them if they so desired), she sat at the desk in the room.

The only light was that of the desk lamp, which was bright enough for her to see clearly, but unlike the main light in the room, would not disturb her sleeping pixie.

She sighed, wide awake (how could she possibly sleep at a time like this?) as she slid the several sheets of parchment out of the envelope and spread them out across the desk.

There were a few (extremely detailed) maps of each of Gringotts' levels (the one with Bellatrix's vault on it front and centre), notes on the various protections in the bank and even information on the sorts of weapons that the guards typically used.

Hermione marvelled at the fact that somehow, Bill had managed to get hold of all of this without drawing attention to himself somehow.

That was something _truly_ impressive.

Refocusing her attention to the task at hand, she started to study each and every bit of information that she had in front of her, combining it with the cursory information that she already knew about Gringotts Bank.

Vaguely, she wondered how Ron would have handled such a task, but she pushed that thought aside to be dealt with another time.

Preferably after all of this was over and she was still alive, unlike him.

" _Someone_ has to be the calm, rational person that tempers Harry's actions," Hermione murmured as she studied, already forming some ideas as to how she could combat some potential obstacles that she quickly saw. "why should I not continue that little tradition from our Hogwarts days?"

 _"First of all,"_ she thought. "getting past the front doors. People are getting checked at the doors now by wizard guards instead of goblins, so their ability to detect deceivers in disguises with magic is greatly increased. Added to the fact that Harry is pretty much persona non grata and I am just a Mudblood to them, so it is not as if we could just walk through the doors..."

Hermione sighed and rubbed her temples.

"A disguise would be necessary at that point. I _could_ disguise myself as Bellatrix Lestrange somehow..."

She shuddered at the very _idea_ of sharing an appearance with the demented witch.

"And I suppose Harry could tag along under his Invisibility Cloak. He can still fit under it after all, even with the bit of muscle he's put on and the slight bit of height he's gained."

Raising her wand, she Summoned her diary from where she had last left it (under her pillow, where she had been reading it earlier) and caught it neatly in the hand not occupied by her wand.

Shifting aside some of the parchment, she created a space right in the middle of it all for the diary, flicking it open and beginning to write.

* * *

The next day, she was not scheduled to do any lessons with the (would be) Hogwarts children, she decided to go check out the potions laboratory that she was allowed access to on the island.

She briefly wondered if there were any such facilities back in Britain, which she was just unaware of. A place where perhaps, you reserved your brewing space, just as one could apparently at this place.

She knew of some in Magix (both Harry and Anahita had mentioned them in passing), but was unaware of any back home.

Hermione looked forward to seeing what this one was like.

Apparently, back in the days before the Wizards of the Black Circle had started their siege upon the fairies of Tir Nan Og, the building that she was walking out to, with Camilla close behind her, had looked quite different in design and was also quite smaller.

Now, however, since their freedom, Morgana and Nebula, along with several other survivors of that war, had banded together to ensure that it, along with other varying facilities on the island were fixed to be even bigger and even better than before.

The outside of the building still looked rather rustic, but as she crossed the threshold, the inside was another story.

The part she entered looked like a cross between a waiting room and a library, with gleaming white walls and tiles, a gigantic bookshelf dominating one side of the room, filled with various potions related books and magazines.

A fairy who sat at what appeared to be a reception desk in the midst of it all, looked up as she entered.

"Oh, hello!" the fairy exclaimed. "Are you interested in booking a potions laboratory? Most of them are free at the moment, so that should not be an issue!"

"Not just yet," Hermione shook her head. "I want to see what the laboratory looks like first and what is included in it before I commit to anything."

The fairy nodded. "Of course. That is quite an understandable approach to have. We have not had much traffic in this place as yet, but most of those who do come with an interest in using the facility also have a similar mindset to yourself. Come along." she motioned for Hermione to follow her. "I shall give you a tour of the place. Feel free to ask any questions that you may have."

The fairy smiled at Camilla, who had not spoken the entire time, merely contenting herself with looking around. "You can ask any questions you need to about this place as well. It is always an honour to meet a bonded pair."

Hermione and Camilla shared a brief look, before shrugging it off and following the fairy.

* * *

After leaving the potions laboratory, Hermione and Camilla talked as they walked towards the outdoor arena.

"I think the facilities are quite adequate for some of the potions you might want to make, judging by what I read in your Potions books," Camilla opined.

"You are right," Hermione nodded. "The place does look suitable for my needs. I will just have to take inventory of my potions ingredient and see what other ingredients I would need before I go back, but the matter of a well equipped, convenient place to brew is quite sorted out now."

As she stepped into the arena area itself, a gentle breeze began to blow, carrying with it, the scent of the breeze.

Hermione paused, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath in to take in the now familiar, relaxing scent.

Perhaps when this was all over, she would take a vacation to a nice beach area somewhere, whether on Earth or otherwise.

For now, however, she had to focus on surviving in order to get to that point.

"What kinds of spells are you going to try out here today, Hermione?" Camilla asked.

"I want to practice Levitation spells as well as a few element based spells that I researched and I think would be quite useful. A sand storm sort of spell and..." she winced as she spoke of the next one. "a sort of spell that _petrifies_ the target... included among them."

"Oh." Camilla offered no further comment on the last spell, likely because she knew of Hermione's own experience with being petrified and did not wish to bring up bad memories for her.

Hermione smiled slightly at the pixie's consideration for her well being.

"For now though, let us just read through this list of spells I want to try out today and you can help me pick some that you think might be useful. What about that?" the witch motioned for the pixie to follow her over to the outdoor arena's seating area.

"Well, if you really want me to..." Camilla looked uncertain. "I mean, it looks as if you have all of these things in hand already. Why do you need my help?"

"First of all, you are the only one here that I feel that I can speak to freely about such matters," Hermione admitted. "besides the nature of our bond not allowing us to do anything that might harm the other, you are not the ruler of a foreign land, nor are you one of the refugees from back home. You... while you would be biased towards me of course, you are the most neutral figure here compared to any of the others."

Hermione fell silent and watched the young pixie mull if over, a thoughtful expression on her face.

"I... I guess so. It is always good to have someone you can talk to especially about this kind of thing, right?" Camilla's smile was small when she finally spoke again, breaking the silence that had ensued, save for the background noise of winds rustling nearby trees and the waves of the sea rolling in the distance.

Hermione nodded, hugging the pixie and ruffling her hair lightly, eliciting a chuckle from the mini winged being.

"Also, you do not give yourself enough credit for this, but you are actually quite intelligent, Camilla," Hermione pointed out. "You know a lot about magic that I do not. You see things in my spell casting that I can always work on, such as when I am not putting enough power into a spell... or if I go the opposite direction and I put too much power into a spell."

"That is not too hard to do..." Camilla offered up a token protest, but Hermione could tell that the pixie knew quite well that all that Hermione was telling her was true.

"With some of these spells, it is. Do not sell yourself short, darling. Give yourself some credit!" Hermione exclaimed.

"I... okay. Fine," Camilla relented. "Perhaps, even... since my specialty is in illusions, I could show you a few things that I know?"

"Wonderful!" Hermione exclaimed, feeling slightly badly that she had not thought to ask her pixie about that sort of thing. "Illusion spells can come in useful in all sorts of ways!"

The pair, witch and pixie, sat together for several minutes, discussing the merits of each spell on the relatively short (at least for Hermione Granger) list, before Hermione finally got up.

"Well then," she spoke, before taking a deep breath and drawing her wand. "We should probably get started on this now if I want to go back to the palace in decent time to review the list of potions I can work on."

"Will you need my help with that as well?" Camilla asked, looking hopeful.

Hermione smiled at her. "Of course you can. Now, back to the current topic. Spell casting practice."

She waited until she was a safe distance away from the pixie before she raised her wand to cast the first spell.

* * *

The next day, Hermione found herself speaking to Harry once again, he having called her during a break from his classes.

"How are you feeling?" Hermione asked her best friend.

"As well as I can be, considering what we are planning, I suppose," Harry shrugged.

"Did you get the Gringotts information yet?" Hermione queried. "I have and I have been studying it as thoroughly as I can."

Harry shook his head. "Nope. I am meeting Dobby later today, somewhere away from the school, where he can bring that information to me, though."

"Did Remus inform you about the conference call that we are having tomorrow?" Hermione queried.

Harry sighed. "Yes, he did. All of this, though... it feels as if we hit a dead end for several months... only for the momentum to build up so quickly. Do you realise though, that the chances of us getting off scot-free with this, without Voldemort or Bellatrix knowing what we did are narrow, right? Even if we took all sorts of precautions?"

Hermione shuddered. "I have thought of that, so the thought has in fact, occurred to me, yes. If they show up while we are trying to escape... they would do things to us that would be so much worse than what the Goblins could ever do to us..."

"That is why if that happens, we need to have some sort of escape plan. I have been mulling over a few ideas myself, but without that information in my hands..." Harry shrugged.

"Well, you will have it soon. Dobby will be sure of it. In the meantime, how is school going for you? Did you learn anything recently there that you think would help you out?" Hermione asked.

"I have, actually," Harry admitted. and I wanted to ask you about it before we get wrapped up in the meeting with the others tomorrow."

"Well then, go ahead. Share the knowledge!" Hermione pulled out a pen and paper, ready to take notes, pointedly ignoring Harry's eye roll as she did.

* * *

The next day, Hermione found herself alone in her room once again, Camilla having gone out to explore some nearby gardens- of her own volition.

Camilla knew without asking that Hermione would want to be alone for this call.

The phone rang, and Harry was the first on the conference call with her, apparently alone, sitting at his desk in his dorm room.

Not even a minute later and another call came in, this time with Remus, Dumbledore, Moody and Bill all apparently together in one place, using the same phone.

 _"Are we all here?"_ Moody asked gruffly- which was how he usually spoke anyway. "Good! Let us get to work!"

Hermione nodded, immediately jumping into the discussion.

They discussed the plans (with Hermione and Bill explaining some things to Harry, since he did not have a copy of the Gringotts information as yet) and then started discussing various spells that would be useful at different points.

Near the end of it all, Dumbledore used the time to allow anyone to bring up any potential concerns.

"If the Goblins ever find out I did this, I'd have so much more to worry about than losing my job..." Bill pointed out.

 _"Losing your life, economic ruin... yes, I understand the idea..."_ Hermione thought.

"And there'll be so much more to worry about if we _don't_ do this, so get over it." Moody snapped.

Hermione shuddered. _"And I also understand that idea..."_

"Children, children..." Harry spoke in a teasing tone before his tone returned to a more serious one. "We get it. There's a lot of risks involved in trying to rob a Gringotts vault. Especially one as heavily guarded as the Lestrange vault would be. We just need to get over that small problem before I can off Voldemort."

Hermione could feel herself rolling her eyes. The way that Harry simplified things at times...

" _Small problem,_ he says," she scoffed. " _If that's a small problem to you, what would be a big one?"_

"Voldemort taking over Britain and trying to move onto the rest of Earth. Taking this risk seems insignificant in comparison to letting that happen." Harry said.

Hermione made her own noise of agreement, along with the others.

"Anyway, I've got a couple copies of the Gringotts layout. I've sent one to Hermione and if you can call Dobby to you when you're not at school and somewhere where you're alone, you'll get them as well, Harry. Fully detailed maps and such of the various entrances, exits and the level where the Lestrange vault is." Bill spoke up. "There's also several notes in there on the protection spells on the place, other types of protection and the types of weapons that the guards typically have that you'll get as well."

Harry whistled. "Bloody hell, Bill. You did well. How'd you get all of that without being caught?"

"I wonder this as well," Hermione agreed. "Bill, how in the world did you manage to do all of that without getting caught? Especially as you would be watched, what with your connection to Harry and all?"

"If I can break into ancient pyramids older than Hogwarts and not get harmed by the curses and booby traps in them, I can easily make my way through the security department." Bill pointed out.

 _"Such an oversimplification of things,"_ Hermione sighed.

"Some security department that is if a single wizard can go in there and retrieve several copies of such highly classified information without authorisation and without getting caught." Moody muttered.

Hermione couldn't help but agree with him.

"If it comes down to it, I'll go and do the break in myself." Harry vowed.

 _"Yourself?"_ Hermione drew up straight, looking almost offended.

" _As if_ I'd let you go do something like that on your own. You'd just get yourself killed and then where would the rest of us be?" she scoffed. "I'll be going with you. _Someone_ has to provide some sort of calm, rational mind during the whole thing!"

"I guess that's settled then. Hermione and I are going to be robbing a bank sometime in the near future!" Harry exclaimed cheerfully.

"Do you _really_ have to put it like that?" Hermione asked.

She knew what it was and everything, but _still..._

"That is what it is, Hermione. You'll have no choice but to rob the bank to get the thing. _His_ people are _everywhere_ and I'm fairly certain that the goblins are leaning towards his side right now..." Bill pointed out.

"Enough about that. It's settled! Potter and Granger are doing the infiltration mission. Case closed." Moody barked.

Harry and Hermione looked at one another.

She always knew that it would end up this way, just her and Harry doing this, but now, it seemed more official.

More... _final._

"Great." Harry spoke after a few moments of silence. "Now that we've got that out of the way, I've got to get to classes. Can't afford to skip out on anything at this stage of the game..."

"Well then, get going! Education is important and if you learn something that helps keep you alive in the process..." Hermione said, watching as the projection with Remus, Dumbledore, Moody and Bill disappeared.

Giving a small, encouraging smile to Harry, she ended her own part of the call a few seconds afterwards.

Afterwards, after taking a deep breath to calm herself, she decided to join Camilla in the gardens and give herself time to mull over the information that had just been discussed.

It was a lot to take in after all and especially with what she was planning on using said information to do, it simply would not do to overload her brain which felt as if it was full to bursting at the moment.

* * *

 _ **There are a few chapters of this story that have no reviews as yet. I would appreciate some feedback on those too, if you can. Thanks.**_


	20. Chapter 20

Good morning, Hermione," Nebula greeted her one morning as the two magical women happened to go down to breakfast at the same early hour, Hermione having left Camilla behind as the pixie was still asleep.

"Good morning, Your Majesty," Hermione responded politely. "How are you doing today?"

"Quite fine, thank you," Nebula smiled. "and by the way, how many times must I tell you that for now, outside of formal or public occasions that you may call me by my given name?"

"Oh. Right. I apologise, Your Majesty. I mean... Nebula." Hermione corrected herself.

Nebula chuckled. "Old habits are difficult to break, are they not?"

Hermione chuckled as well. "That they are."

They walked in relative silence; the only sounds around them were that of their light footsteps until they reached the dining hall.

"These past few months have seen you settling in quite nicely with the populace of Tir Nan Og by all accounts," the fairy queen noted.

Hermione took a few moments to remember all that she had learnt and accomplished since coming to the airy realm and she smiled.

"I have indeed settled in quite nicely and I have learnt so much just by being here in these few short months. Once again, I simply have to thank you and your sister for allowing me to stay here!"

"It is no problem, Hermione," Nebula spoke as she sat at the table, before motioning to Hermione to do the same.

"How are things progressing in your home land?" the fairy queen asked. "What is the situation like there with that abomination that calls himself Lord Voldemort?"

"It is pretty much the same as before, Your Ma... Nebula," Hermione said. "He has a firm grip on the Ministry of Magic and is wreaking terror wherever he pleases- except for Hogwarts. Dumbledore and the staff have managed to keep him out for this long."

Their conversation paused as the dining staff brought out two platters of fruit- which was apparently Nebula's favourite way to start her own breakfast- not that Hermione minded.

Pausing to take a bite of a strawberry, the fairy queen started speaking to her again. "How is your personal training going? I hear that you have taken up trying to adaptsome of our kind of magic to your own kind of magic."

"Surprisingly well, actually," Hermione spoke in between eating some grapes. "I thought that I would have had more trouble 'translating' some of those spells so to speak, but I have not had too much difficulty so far. Granted, I have only been trying to do it with what I see are basic spells for your kind, so that is probably why..."

"How about practicing your actual combat?" Nebula quizzed. "Learning how to cast the spells is one thing. Learning how to cast the spells in combat is another matter entirely."

Hermione nodded. "I quite agree."

She had duelled with Harry when he was here, plus the few sparring sessions that she had had with Anahita on her rather eventful trip to Romulea and there were a few duels that she had had with some of the adult witches and wizards from her home country that had sought refuge in Tir Nan Og, but those were few and far between.

She told the fairy queen so.

"Well, your friend Harry has sparred with me before, so why don't you put that fairy dust core wand of yours against myself and see how it fares?" Nebula suggested.

Hermione sat up, somehow even straighter than she had been before.

First of all, why had Harry not mentioned that he had duelled against the fairy queen?

Secondly, how could she _possibly_ do well against such a powerful warrior?

Nebula could probably destroy her with little effort!

As if said fairy queen had been reading her thoughts, Nebula spoke again.

"Sooner or later, you will be fighting by Harry's side once again or be in some sort of other dangerous situation due to your affiliation with him. You are a very skilled and talented young woman and I am sure that you could give me quite the challenge."

Hermione felt sceptical and could hear it coming out in her voice as she spoke again.

"I... you are quite the formidable warrior, Nebula. I am pretty sure that when you had finished with me, there would be nothing left of me to help Harry against Voldemort!"

Nebula chuckled, as if the matter that they were discussing was one of little consequence.

"Admittedly, yes, if I were actually trying to actually kill you, you would not stand a chance."

Those words did not inspire any confidence in Hermione whatsoever.

"As it is, I do not wish to see you dead, whether by my hand or by that of Voldemort or his followers."

More food arrived just then and they paused their conversation to eat.

Hermione thought as they ate.

Nebula was right.

Practicing the spells on your own could only carry you so far.

Plus the fact that she and Harry were planning a major move against Voldemort soon and she would need all the practice that she could get against an actual opponent...

She had gotten started on her potions stock, she was studying the Gringotts information and ever since Harry got his copy of it, she had been discussing it with him every day since...

All that was left was more spell practice.

Harry had plenty of people at Red Fountain to spar with, both with and without magic, so why shouldn't she take up Nebula on this offer?

Taking a sip of tea, Hermione set the cup down.

"Harry and I are planning something. We do not know when exactly it will take place, but we both know that it will be soon."

Nebula paused her own eating to listen. "Go on. Explain, as best as you can."

"Most of Voldemort's Horcruxes... or as you know them... his Soul Jars... they have been destroyed. All of them except one."

Nebula raised an eyebrow. "Let me guess. You and Harry are planning to go after the last one, correct?"

Hermione nodded. "Yes. We are making our plans, studying the information we have, stocking up on necessary supplies and getting in as much magic practice as we can in preparation."

Nebula nodded. "I see. Once you manage to obtain and destroy this Horcrux, you plan on taking the fight straight to Voldemort?"

Hermione took a deep breath before answering.

"Yes. If the worst situation occurs and we are discovered trying to take the Horcrux from its rather heavily guarded hiding place, hopefully we manage to escape that, but he will immediately know that we are onto him. If he does not... well, we would prefer not to drag this whole thing out."

"Right. It is best not to drag on a fight. Speaking of such, what do you think of my offer to let you practice your fighting skill against me?" Nebula brought up her earlier offer. "I know that you are more of a scholar than a warrior, but you know what you must do against Voldemort and his forces."

"I know," Hermione nodded, making up her mind.

"I accept, Nebula. As long as you do not actually kill or permanently maim me, anything goes."

Nebula shrugged. "That is as close to the real thing as you can get, so why not? Meet me at the outdoor arena this afternoon, an hour after lunch."

As they continued their breakfast, they discussed some of the various spells that Hermione had learnt since arriving in Tir Nan Og, with the queen suggesting a few more.

She was not exactly looking forward to getting beaten up by the fairy queen, but she was looking forward to learning what she could from her.

* * *

A few hours later, Hermione and Nebula had met in the outdoor arena, accompanied by a few others.

Some of the Warrior Fairies were there, the British Fairies were there as well as British witch and wizard refugees, plus a few of the other Earthling witches and wizards who had been invited to stay on the island as part of a 'cultural exchange.'

Camilla was at the front, seated with a fairy with long, pinkish-white hair, who Hermione had earlier learned was Dana Bixley, the fairy that Harry had helped to rescue from Voldemort's clutches some time ago and whose capture had been the catalyst for Nebula throwing her realm into the ring of Britain's latest conflict.

Apparently, the two of them had gotten off to a good start, since they decided to sit together and the fairy was doing her best to soothe the agitated pixie's nerves...

Hermione shook her head to clear it, before taking in a deep breath, inhaling the now familiar sea scent and feeling the light breeze ruffle her bushy curls, pulled into a ponytail for the occasion.

"Are you ready?" Nebula inclined her head slightly towards Hermione as the few stragglers on the arena's floor quickly cleared it, joining the others in the arena's seating area.

"As ready as I could ever be," Hermione nodded, drawing her wand.

"Very well. Let us begin!"

Without warning, Nebula shot an energy blast at Hermione, who narrowly managed to dodge it, before raising her wand.

Jabbing her wand towards the fairy queen, she felt the magic pumping through her, rushing out of her wand in the form of five golden brown energy blasts, each of which was stronger than the previous one.

Flying in a zig-zag sort of motion and dodging each one, Nebula flew above Hermione and spoke an incantation that Hermione did not recognise.

Having no time to dodge, Hermione threw up a shield and hoped for the best.

Her shield began to crack; making loud, booming sounds as each spell impacted it and with the blast that finally managed to destroy it, she was thrown off her feet, but she quickly managed to recover, casting a _Stupefy!_ as she rose to her feet.

"Oh please, Hermione," Nebula scoffed. "You know better than that. Do you really think that Voldemort or his little Death Eaters will merely try to stun you? They are out for your 'dirty' blood! Fight as if your life depends on it!"

The fairy queen fired off yet another spell at her, though unfortunately, this one she had no time to dodge.

It hit her and Hermione was instantly reminded of the time that Stormy had attacked her back in Hogsmeade at the end of her sixth year at Hogwarts.

It felt as if she had been shocked by lightning once again and she could feel her heart pumping even faster in her chest than it had been before.

She was vaguely aware of the terrified scream coming from Camilla, as well as a few similar sounding screams from the rest of the audience, but she pushed that to the back of her mind as she fought to get up.

 _This was not as bad as Stormy's attack,_ she told herself. _Nebula is not out to kill me,_ she reminded herself.

" _Nebula is helping me by giving me an actual fight so that I can better assess my gained skill!_ " Hermione thought.

Taking in a deep breath, she steadied her stance, even as Nebula did not let up on attacking her.

Why not return the favour?

The fairy queen was giving her a good fight, so why should she not do the same?

She smirked.

Waving her wand in a circular motion and jabbing it forward sharply, she repeated that motion several times.

Crackling rings that resembled lightning shot out of her wand each time, but with every one that shot out from her wand, Nebula managed to dodge it.

Instead, the rings impacted the ground, each sizzling briefly where it impacted before disappearing; leaving a slightly smoking, black ring on each impact site.

"Now _that_ is what I am looking to see in you, Hermione!" Nebula exclaimed, pumping the air with a fist and looking excited in a deranged sort of way. "You _need_ those kinds of damaging spells in your repertoire and you need to not be afraid to use them! I hear that you have learnt that you need to play dark and dirty to win but I was not seeing any of that before!"

"She is right, Hermione! Do what you have to do to win!" Camilla exclaimed, in a somewhat overeager tone that she had never heard the pixie use.

Raising her Fir and fairy dust crystal wand into the air and bringing it down sharply, she cried out: _"Ventum Harenae!"_

Extremely strong gusts of wind mixed with sand emerged from her wand, looking to the audience as if a sandstorm had engulfed the two opponents, hiding them from view.

Some of the Warrior Fairies looked tense and some even looked ready to intervene, until a call came out from the sandy cloud in the voice of their queen; commanding them to stand down.

Inside the cloud of sand, Nebula, who had been flying before, was forced to ground herself, as the wind was not only threatening to blow her severely off-course, despite her large, powerful wings, but the sand in it was getting into her eyes.

Hermione, who remained quite steady on her feet and whose eyes remained sand less due to a few quick charms on herself, did not let up on the offensive, casting spell after spell into the giant cloud of sand.

She could see the fairy queen striding towards her in the sandstorm that she had created, so she conjured a large boulder and sent it racing towards Nebula.

Raising both hands, the fairy queen sent an energy blast at the boulder with one hand; shattering it into bits which Hermione had to shield herself against, while Nebula's other hand quieted the sand storm, although enough sand still remained on the ground to give it a thin layer that her footprints could be seen in as she walked.

Nebula started a slow, ironic sort of clap as she approached casually, while Hermione maintained her shield.

"A visual distraction. A nice play indeed, but I do hope that you have more tricks up your sleeve than that!"

Hermione risked a quick glance at the spectators to their fight and saw that they all seemed to be highly enthusiastic about the fight.

Even Camilla, who was normally a complete bundle of nerves at the very _mention_ of Hermione fighting anything looked a bit less worried, although the witch could still tell that her pixie was concerned.

Nebula fired a dark coloured blast at the shield which cracked it, although it did not shatter.

"Come now, Hermione. I keep telling you; try better! Do harder! If I was Voldemort or one of his Death Eaters, you would have been dead long before now!" Nebula taunted.

Hermione growled. _"I am trying, Your Majesty!"_

"Try harder, _girl!_ " Nebula did not let up with the onslaught of spells.

Hermione let out a scream of frustration as she felt her own magic crackle through her hair .

"That's it, Hermione! _Get pissed off!_ " Nebula shouted. "These are the people responsible for the death of your precious mother and father! These are the people who murdered your boyfriend! These are the people who after they murdered you, would parade your body through the streets and cut off your head to use as a ball in their Quidditch games!"

Hermione would have shuddered at the very thought of something like that if she wasn't currently locked into a battle with a vicious fairy queen.

She was aware that Nebula did not seek to kill her, but _bloody hell,_ it certainly felt like it!

Hermione shrieked an incantation _(Gwaed i Garreg!)_ and jabbed her wand forward viciously, a dark grey light coming from it.

Nebula narrowly managed to dodge it, her eyes widening briefly as the spell passed her head.

"Vicious, vicious, Hermione. I could feel the dark magic in that spell!" Nebula looked at her approvingly.

"It is just like you wanted me to use!" Hermione snapped.

"Exactly! I think we can call an end to today's session," Nebula snapped her fingers and all the damage to the outdoor arena that they had caused was instantly repaired.

 _"What?"_ Hermione breathed heavily. "I was just getting started, Your Majesty!"

"Oh, I know. You fought... well, I can see some areas that leave something to be desired, but it was a decent fight- for someone who is not a warrior, that is..." Nebula remarked.

"Should I be flattered or...?" Hermione idly reached for Camilla as she noted the pixie flying towards her.

"I do not know about being flattered... but you would not be _completely_ hopeless in a fight," Nebula shrugged, looking indifferent to the fact that if she had wanted to, Hermione would be a corpse right now.

Hermione felt _truly_ grateful to be alive.

"I will speak to you later. There are other matters I wish to attend to. You fought a decent enough fight, Hermione. I look forward to future sparring matches. Keep this up and not only would you be a great help to your best friend, but a great menace to those Death Eaters as well." Nebula smiled a small smile before turning away talking to some of the other fairies who had gathered to speak to her.

"It is nice to see you alive and well, Hermione," Dana approached after a little while.

"I do not know about being well," Hermione winced, the aches and pains of a rather vigorous duel finally catching up to her as her adrenaline wore off. "but at least I am alive..."

She then started casting various healing spells on herself.

"The queen really put you through the ringer, didn't she?" Dana looked sympathetic.

"She did," Hermione groaned. "but it was for a good cause. This is so I can gladly help Harry put an end to the monster who caused havoc in both of our lives..."

"Yes..." Dana's eyes briefly had a faraway look in them as she likely remembered what had happened during her time as Voldemort's unwilling guest. "...both of our lives..."

"Hermione, you should probably go now and try to rest for a while before attempting that afternoon potions brewing that you had planned!" Camilla reminded her.

"You are right. I should," Hermione nodded.

"It was a pleasure meeting you, Hermione." Dana smiled a small smile. "Hopefully the next time I see you, you will still be alive."

"I hope so too Dana," Hermione nodded fervently. "I sure hope so too..."

* * *

"I sympathise with you," Harry looked at her sympathetically that night, as they discussed what she had done earlier that day. "I sympathise with you _oh so very much..._ "

"I know that you said that she was a brutal task master, but to experience that for myself is another matter entirely. If I could fight with even _half_ of her viciousness, power and skill, I would not worry as much about what we are about to do." Hermione said.

"Agreed," Harry nodded fervently. "I have been in duels with others since then- with some of those duels not being so friendly- but her... she _definitely_ deserves the title of Fairy of War and Peace."

"I am just glad she decided to help me improve my fighting skill. Practicing the spells on my own is one thing, but having someone else to work with me on them is another level entirely."

They remained in silence for a few moments.

"So, how are your other preparations going?" Harry broke the silence.

"I did get started on brewing some healing potions after I managed to recover from the duel," Hermione said. "I decided to brew Essence of Dittany and Skele-Gro to start with, as well as a general healing potion that I discovered here. Luckily, all the ingredients for such were available here and I managed to bring all of my Potions notes with me..."

"As for other potions we might need, Shapeshifter Potion would be good for you to have, especially if you are planning on taking on the form of Bellatrix. After all, Polyjuice Potion is more... _temperamental._ " Harry suggested.

"Right. I have heard you mention that before," Hermione nodded, taking notes. "Are there any drawbacks to that potion, though? I know you have used it yourself in the past, but..."

"One big one: you cannot use other potions while you have the Shapeshifter Potion in your system. That potion on its own is a pretty powerful one and to add another to your body while it is still in your system... how to explain this..." Harry paused to think.

" _Oh yes_. It would be akin to a drug overdose on a cocktail of illegal Muggle drugs like cocaine, heroin and the like."

"So no healing potions and no energy potions at the same time," Hermione nodded. "I got it. I will just have to build up my endurance as best as I can then."

After several more minutes of discussing their plans, the call finally ended and Hermione dispelled the privacy charms she had cast around the desk she'd been sitting at.

Glancing around the room, she saw that Camilla was sleeping peacefully in her bed, while Crookshanks, instead of going to his own bed, had decided to sleep at the foot of hers, sprawled out to his full length.

She chuckled at the sight.

"You two are comfortable, so I might as well get comfortable in my own bed as well. Goodness knows I will need to get all the rest I can, considering what Harry and I are planning on doing soon..."

Putting her wand in her bedside drawer, she then proceeded to get ready for bed, going over all she had done that day in her mind.

One more day of preparation gone, another day closer to the end of the madness going on back home.


	21. Chapter 21

After another long, packed day filled with teaching her students, practicing combat themed magic with Nebula, studying the Gringotts information, brewing potions and spending time with Camilla, Hermione sat at her desk that night, casting some privacy charms as she did.

Taking out her cell phone, she laid it on the desk and awaited Harry's call.

Not even a minute after she had sat, the phone rang and she promptly answered it.

"Before you ask, no, fighting Nebula is not getting any easier, although it is not getting any harder either. I am actually learning quite a few useful things from her that will help us when we are ready. I have also been studying the Gringotts information we have of course, and I believe I shall be finished with all the potions that I can prepare in a matter of days." she rattled off before Harry could even so much as say hello.

Harry raised an eyebrow.

Hermione rolled her eyes.

"That's good to hear," he finally spoke. "things are going pretty well on my end as well. I have stocked up on whatever I can, gotten in as much practice and study as possible... although there is only so much that practice and study can do for you as compared to actually doing the thing that you are preparing for..."

Hermione shrugged. "That is pretty much why Nebula helped me make my practice more 'realistic' in the first place."

"Anyway, how are you doing?" Harry asked. "Personally, I mean. How are you coping generally?"

Hermione paused to think.

She still fought bouts of depression at times, but it certainly helped that she had both a lot to keep her busy as well as reliable people (Harry included) that she could talk to on a regular basis.

"I... I am okay," she answered. "I am healthy physically and while my mental health could still do with some work, I... well, like I said, I am working on that."

Harry nodded. "That is as good as it will get for either of us, I suppose. As for me, I am doing okay. Same as you, I guess."

Hermione smiled slightly. "What about your friends in Magix? Your squad mates? Roxy? How are they? Morgana speaks favourably about her daughter whenever she comes to visit and Nebula is pretty much the same when she speaks of her niece."

Harry scowled briefly, but Hermione still caught the expression.

She had hit a nerve.

Did something bad happen between her best friend and his girlfriend?

Before Hermione could think of a way to tactfully ask, Harry already started explaining what had caused his scowl.

"Roxy... I care for her, I truly do," Harry started. "but it is as if she wants to get herself killed. She... well, she can tell that I am planning something to do with Voldemort and she wants to be part of it."

"Let me guess," Hermione spoke wryly. "she wants to be part of it as well, while you want her to be as far away from it as she can possibly be."

Harry groaned. "Right in one, Hermione. I do not think she truly understands what would happen if she got fully involved like we are. I mean, she and her family have been a great help to us so far and she has even been along on one particular mission, but this one will be so much worse than that. She does not know Voldemort like you and especially I do. She has even less magical training than we do."

"Not to mention what would happen if her family found out that you allowed her to come with us to do this," Hermione pointed out.

"Exactly! The risk is too great and she does not understand! I can live with you helping me, but she needs to stay out of this! As I told her before, I truly am helpful for the aid that she and her family and her people gave us, but their... _front line participation_ so to speak is no longer needed!"

Hermione pursed her lips. "And... how did Roxy react to _that?_ "

"She decided to give me some space," Harry spoke bitterly.

Hermione winced.

 _Ouch._

"I... well... wow..." Hermione looked sympathetic.

"So," Harry spoke up in a falsely cheerful tone, clearly trying to change the topic. "back to the bank robbery plans."

Hermione rolled her eyes as she always did when he referred to it as such.

"When do you think we can do this? I cannot leave Red Fountain without notice during class periods, but I have a week's break coming up in three weeks."

Three weeks.

"You want to do this in three weeks?" Hermione spoke calmly but on the inside, her heart was racing.

Three weeks.

They were working towards a definite time frame now.

Harry nodded.

"It makes sense. We are practically ready for this anyway. We've basically done all that we can do to prepare ourselves for this."

Hermione closed her eyes and took a deep breath to calm herself.

Was this not what she had been working towards, basically from the moment she decided to remain Harry's best friend, no matter what?

 _"Hermione?"_

Harry's voice drew her back into the present.

"Yes, I heard you, Harry. I was just thinking... you said you have a break coming up in three weeks where you would be able to get away from Red Fountain easier and you want to do this then, correct?"

Harry answered in the affirmative.

"There is someone who I would like to check in with beforehand, but that should not be an issue. When we go back to Britain, we can meet at and make our base at Grimmauld Place before we move off. As long as you Apparate directly onto its front step, no one would be ever the wiser to your arrival." he suggested.

"That sounds good. I will get there the day before you do to start organising things. Just give me a solid date and I can work with it." Hermione's mind was already going into overdrive, thinking of any last minute things they might have to do before going off on their little expedition.

They started planning what they would do once they met up and before they set off, before discussing some of the spells they thought would come in useful, talking until they both got sleepy and decided to end the call before falling asleep.

* * *

Hermione sighed as she ladled the last of the potion she had been brewing into a clear vial and set it into a rack that held other similar vials, which was set on a table with other similarly filled racks.

"Well," she glanced at Camilla, who had been watching the process. "that is it. I have brewed all the potions I can. I will just take these back to the palace so I can pack them for transport, then when I meet Harry, we can divide them between us." Hermione clasped her hands and stretched her arms out in front of her.

"One more thing done. Is... is there anything else you can do to prepare?" Camilla asked. "Is there any way that I could help?"

"I can do nothing else aside from practice and wait until the day that it is time to leave," Hermione said. "As for you helping me, for now, why don't you help me carry these potions back to the castle and we can talk more about that along the way?"

Camilla nodded.

Hermione conjured up two boxes and packed the racks of potions evenly between them, before sealing them by drawing her wand across the top once she had closed them.

Casting a charm to make one box lighter for Camilla to carry, she handed one box to the pixie while she slung on her rucksack, putting her wand in a narrow pouch she'd attached to it for that purpose and took the other box in her arms.

Inclining her head towards the doorway, she motioned for the pixie to follow her.

Once they were well out of the building and on their way back to the palace, Hermione spoke again.

"About your offer of assistance... how hard would it be for you to teach me your illusion spells?" Hermione asked.

Camilla raised an eyebrow, stopping in mid flight as Hermione stopped mid stride. "I don't think it would be too hard, given that we're bonded and all. Our bond allows us to not only sense and track each other, but we can also share our magic to some extent as well. You know that."

"Yes, yes, I do, but we never experimented to see what exactly 'sharing magic' means..." Hermione murmured. "I would like to know how to create small illusions. Just so I can change the appearance of a few things without actually Transfiguring it. It would also be useful to know any little illusion based distractions I could use on my enemies to get in a few extra shots when I need to."

Camilla looked thoughtful. "I can help with that."

Hermione nodded. "Excellent. That will solve a few potential issues quite nicely."

They fell into silence once again as they resumed their walk, Hermione's thoughts wandering.

Three more weeks.

Three more weeks until she and Harry would make the next move.

Until then, all she could do was practice, prepare and spend time with Camilla.

 _Camilla._

Hermione's eyes widened as she stopped suddenly.

Bloody hell.

What was going to happen to Camilla while she was gone?

Taking the pixie with her when she went back to Britain was obviously out of the question in the current climate and since they had been bonded, they had never been apart for more than a few hours at a time...

Roxy's mid-term break was at the same time as Harry's.

Perhaps she could ask her to take her and she could spend some time with Zing, whom she viewed as an eccentric sort of older sister figure?

Though... given Roxy's recent stance with Harry, would asking her to take care of Camilla while she was _away_ with Harry be a good idea?

Or maybe... perhaps Anahita could take her. Camilla and Livy got along reasonably well and Anahita was less likely to pose any sort of problem, seeing as she was less... less inclined to object to anything Harry would be doing while in Britain.

There was also the option of sending her back to Pixie Village, Camilla's home. She would have the most support there, after all...

Hermione sighed.

She really could not make a decision about this without discussing it with the pixie in question.

She would bring it up with her once they had gotten back to the palace and packed all of this stuff up.

That would give her a little more time to think of how to bring it up with her.

* * *

"Well, what do you think, Camilla?" Hermione asked later, as she sat, cross-legged on her bed and Camilla sat next to her, looking up at her. "When I leave, where would you want to go? Who do you want to stay with?"

"I... I don't know," Camilla looked uncertain. "Can I tell you tomorrow? I need some more time to think about it."

Hermione nodded. "That would be fine. I want you to be as comfortable and happy as possible while I'm gone, after all."

"Just please do not _stay_ gone," Camilla spoke wryly, a tone the pixie rarely took. "I would hate to lose you. My time with you has been so amazing. _You_ are amazing."

Hermione smiled a small smile. "I will do my best to come back to you. I do not want to be _gone_ forever either."

Her cell phone, which Hermione had set on the desk as she walked in, rang just then.

Stretching as she got up, she walked over and checked the caller ID.

Anahita.

Showing it to Camilla, she asked her: "Do you mind if I ask her about her opinion of this? I might as well, since she is calling now..."

"Go ahead," Camilla shrugged. "I don't mind."

Hermione nodded and answered the phone.

'Hello, Hermione. Is all well with you?" Anahita asked.

"As well as it can be when one is preparing for a war..." Hermione sighed.

Anahita raised an eyebrow, but did not question her.

"Yes, yes, but that is not why I am calling. Are you aware that Alfea has a break coming up in a few weeks?"

"Is it at the same time as Red Fountain's break?" Hermione queried.

Anahita answered in the affirmative, then continued.

"Well, Rainer's mother called her earlier and invited us all to spend some time at a resort that apparently she and Lord Del Mar have shares in. As it was when my grandparents invited us to Romulea, Rainer mentioned you to them and the invitation was extended to you as well. Would you like to join us?"

"So... why isn't Rainer asking me this herself?"

"Well, Lady Del Mar called right before Rainer had a date with Lucas, so of course that took the first priority over her mother's request," Anahita rolled her eyes. "and I had planned to speak with you anyway, so this was not a problem for me."

Hermione shared a look with Camilla.

"Well, I would love to come, but alas. I would be busy around that time. Unavoidably so, unfortunately. Can Camilla go with you on this trip without me?" she asked.

"I do not see why not, but why can she not go with you wherever you are..." Anahita trailed off and her eyes widened in realisation. " _...oh._ Roxy told me that she thought that Harry was planning to do something major against Voldemort soon. _Of course_ you would be in on it!"

Anahita was sharp.

Or perhaps it was not sharpness, but simple deductive reasoning.

Either way...

"Can she?" Hermione pressed.

"I do not see why not. You can send her to me before you go off doing whatever it is that you have to do and I can take her along with us. I think that she would enjoy the trip and spending time with some of the other pixies while you are busy with whatever." Anahita shrugged.

"I think I would enjoy that too," Camilla smiled slightly.

"There is also the matter of what Camilla will do if your trip takes longer than expected. Or worse, if this trip of yours ends in a way that none of us would like," Anahita pointed out.

Hermione grimaced before turning to look at her pixie. "It is up to you, Camilla. It is your choice."

"I would want to return to Pixie Village if... if the worst happens," Camilla looked ready to cry at the very thought.

"Then that is settled," Anahita nodded. "I will ensure that it happens. "

Hermione breathed a sigh of relief.

That was one less thing to worry about.

If she came to harm or had to be away for long, at least Camilla would be well cared for.

She already knew where Crookshanks would go- he would be staying here in Tir Nan Og with Isaac and Andrina because for some reason, they completely fell in love with him the first time that she had brought him over for a visit.

They too, understood what she would have to do some day and were also quite understanding about it, so that helped.

"Well, now that _that_ delightful topic is out of the way, what was your original purpose in calling me?" Hermione asked.

"I wanted to see if you could give me another opinion on this Potions essay that I am writing,, but if you are too busy with your preparations..." Anahita trailed off.

"No, no. It is fine. I have the time for that now." Hermione assured her. "Ask away!"

* * *

A few days later, Hermione and Camilla sat together in the room (with Crookshanks sitting on the desk and watching them) practicing a few illusion based spells.

"Just let the magic flow and imagine what image you want to project. It is as simple as that, really," Camilla instructed.

Hermione held her wand straight out in front of her and closed her eyes as she focused.

A flow of colours emerged from her wand; coalescing until it formed the image of a precise copy of herself.

Opening her eyes, she looked vaguely impressed as she stood up to inspect the copy, walking around it to get a good look at it from all angles.

"You did it, Hermione!" Camilla exclaimed. "If you can do something like this so well, then you have pretty much mastered external illusions!"

Hermione looked pleased. "I am only sorry that there is no time to master internal or targeted illusions, but this will do for what I have planned. Thank you."

Camilla smiled. "You are most certainly welcome. I mean, if even one small illusion helps to save your life, then this is quite worth it."

Hermione nodded, then glanced at her phone, which lay on the bedside table.

"Harry and the others shall be calling soon to confirm our plans and set a date for all of this," her tone was somewhat light, contrary to the words that she was speaking.

Camilla looked down. "Oh. I mean I know that you have to do this and everything, but every time you mention something like that and with every passing day, it just seems to get more and more real."

Hermione reached out to hug the pixie. "I know. I know. I could never live in peace until all of this is over, though."

The phone rang just then and Hermione released the pixie from her grip.

"I think I will go down and spend some time in the gardens. I like it there," Camilla nodded to her, before flying out of the open window.

Sighing, Hermione got up and answered the phone while walking over to the desk.

Crookshanks got up as he saw her coming, leapt off the desk and went to relax himself in her bed instead of his own.

Hermione rolled her eyes, before preparing herself for the call.

"Well then, Harry. Let us get this started, shall we?"

* * *

Nearly an hour later, she Harry, Dumbledore, Moody and Remus were discussing the plans, with Bill being absent for whatever reason.

She and Harry had shared their plans for the Gringotts infiltration and after going it with them, none of them could find much fault with it.

Of course with every plan they came up with, there were going to be risks, but they figured that this one was the best one they had come up with.

"So..." Harry piped up during a moment of silence that had fallen. "everything is ready?"

"Yes," Hermione nodded. "We've done all the memorization of the Gringotts information we could, we have all the potions we needed to brew (including healing potions) done, they've been practicing the sorts of spells we'll need to helps us along, especially if anything goes wrong..."

Remus let out a wry chuckle, but didn't comment.

"So why bother putting it off any longer?" Hermione asked.

They had done so for long enough.

She just wanted to get this over and done with so she could attempt to live a life in peace _in her home country._

Harry sighed. "You're right. Why bother putting it off? The sooner we get it done, the better."

"Our allies have been notified that something big may happen within the next few weeks. They're preparing for that as well," Dumbledore spoke up. "Hogwarts is being fortified and we're preparing for an emergency evacuation since my presence here or no, once Voldemort finds out that you've stolen that Horcrux and have destroyed the others..." the old Headmaster trailed off.

"He's not going to give a damn about attacking Hogwarts in retaliation with all those innocent children and their families inside. He's proven multiple times that he doesn't care about children and their families anyway..." Harry said, nodding grimly.

Hermione winced at the memory of Voldemort's mandated attack on the Hogwarts Express, which proved that he did in fact, not give a damn about children being slaughtered.

"Your plans are in place, you're basically ready to pull this thing off... when are you going to do it?" Moody asked.

"In two weeks time, there's going to be a weeklong break for all the students in Magix. I'll check in with someone on the first day, be with you by the second, then by the third we can finally move to end all this." Harry sat up a bit straighter as he spoke.

All of them looked at one another.

"We have an actual date now. It's the real thing... We've been saying so since this whole thing started, but to know that the end of all this could be so close..." Hermione broke the silence that had ensued.

An actual date.

They had been speaking with more of a general time frame before, but now an _actual_ date had been set...

"I feel you. Ever since we started planning to break in-"

Hermione narrowed her eyes at him, since despite everything, she still hated the idea of breaking into anywhere, as if she was a common criminal.

Harry looked right back at her and continued speaking.

"since that's what it _is,_ Hermione. _A break in._ Since we started planning the break in, I've been telling myself so this entire time, but to have an actual date in mind for this..."

"Are you certain that you're ready?" Remus asked him. "You might have been having a lot of training lately and you've more than proven that you can hold your own in an actual fight now, rather than just having sheer luck or someone to help you along..."

"Ready or not, Voldemort's going to be coming for me. I've been putting it off long enough. I can't do it anymore." Harry said. "I've been safe here in Magix, but you lot are still in the line of fire... People keep dying all the time because of him... I can't allow it to go on anymore. It would be a bloody shame to my parents, to Cedric, to Sirius and Ron... _among others..._ if I did."

 _"I feel the same way, hiding away here in Tir Nan Og..."_ Hermione thought.

"And those fairy friends of yours aren't going to be anywhere near this fight?" Moody broke the next moment of silence.

"I certainly don't plan for them to show up. Their war against him is over. They've rescued the one of them that he captured and they've done a great deal of damage to him already in the process, so they've basically done their part to help us against him. That, plus the training I've gotten from Queen Nebula and her sister has significantly improved my fighting skills. And the fact that even without magic, her father would _kill_ me if I let Roxy get anywhere near such a lethal fight and her mum and aunt wouldn't be far behind..." Harry shuddered at the very thought.

Despite themselves, everyone (except Moody) had a little laugh at the idea that Roxy's family could be even scarier to him than Voldemort.

Not long after that, the others dropped out of the call, leaving behind only Harry and Hermione.

"Are you okay, Harry?" she asked him, looking concerned.

Harry raised an eyebrow. "I should be asking you the same thing."

Loud voices were heard on Harry's end of the call and he glanced back, apparently to see what was causing the commotion.

"I've got to go. Hermione, I'll check in with you every day this week. Same time I usually do." Harry said.

Hermione nodded as the call ended.

Great.

Now she had to approach Nebula and let her know that she would soon be leaving the safety of Tir Nan Og, to go and launch herself into a warzone.

While Nebula would not be upset with her for doing what she had to do, that did _not_ make the idea of _that_ conversation an easy one.


	22. Chapter 22

_Dear Camilla,_

 _By the time that you read this letter, you shall be off on your trip and I shall be off on mine. Except that as you know, my trip will not be as fun or as light hearted as yours._

 _I am off to help Harry do something against Voldemort that may well get me killed in the process and I wanted you to have this letter to remember me by, just in case the worst happens to me. I wanted you to have something made by my hand in case I never return to you._

 _Camilla, in the short time that we were bonded, you helped to make my life so much better than it could have been. I spoke to you about issues that I did not feel that I could speak with anyone else about; you were there when I was down on myself and you were always a delight to be around._

 _Thank you._

 _Thank you for that, Camilla._

 _You were down on yourself sometimes and just as I did my best to build you up, you helped me build myself up and I will always be grateful for that. Do not be so hard on yourself, Camilla._ _ **Please**_ _do not be so hard on yourself. You are so much stronger than you realise in every way possible._

 _You are strong; you are kind; you are brave and you are beautiful._

 _You are_ _ **loved.**_

 _Never forget that._

 _I love you so much, Camilla. You are like the little sister that I never had._

 _If I return from this perilous sojourn, I want to take you with me as we travel the worlds together. Earth and those in Magix alike._

 _We can learn together, relax together, have fun together but most importantly, we can just live our lives carefree, even for a little while before we return to a somewhat ordinary life._

 _I would promise to return, but that is not a promise that I may be able to keep._

 _I love you so much and I hope that this is not the last thing that you will ever receive from me._

 _Stay strong and believe in me, Camilla_. _I will do my best to end this and return to you._

 _Love from your bonded,_

 _Hermione._

Hermione sat up straight as she finished the letter and looked it over.

Finding nothing wrong with it, she sighed.

It was short, but it also said everything that she wanted to say.

Reaching across the desk for a photo, she looked at it and smiled.

It was a Wizarding type photograph of her and Camilla together as they walked along the seashore, both of them in floaty sundresses and sunhats; smiling at the camera as if they had not a care in the world.

It was her favourite one of them together and it was this one that she chose to send along with the letter.

Folding said letter, she slid it and the photo into a plain, white envelope and sealed it, before writing Camilla's name on the front of it in lilac ink; the same colour that she had used to write the letter.

It was Camilla's favourite colour, after all.

She got up and slid the letter into the drawer of her bedside table, before looking around the room.

It was early morning still; early enough that the sun was barely starting to show itself on the horizon and Camilla was still asleep.

This would be the last sunrise she got to spend with Camilla before she went back to Britain, seeing as she planned to send Camilla to Anahita via a portal that Nebula would create.

Neither she nor Anahita could create portals on their own after all and all of them agreed that it was best that Roxy did not know what was happening until they were already gone.

After Camilla was safely through, Nebula would then help Hermione make another portal, which would direct her to Grimmauld Place.

Then it would be official.

She would have officially left the safety of Tir Nan Og and stepped right into a warzone.

Sighing, she went to wake up the pixie, who yawned and looked up at her blearily.

"Wha... what is it, Hermione?" Camilla yawned.

"The sun is rising," Hermione explained. "Do you remember how you said that you wanted to watch this one with me?"

Camilla nodded, stretching and flying up to meet Hermione's gaze, her blankets sliding off of her as she did.

"Right. The last sunset that we can spend together before..."

Hermione reached out to hug her and carried her over to the window, where she slid open the curtains and opened the window wide so they could get a proper view.

Camilla sat on the windowsill while Hermione leaned on it, next to her.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Hermione sighed.

"It is," Camilla agreed. "I only hope that I have the opportunity to see many more of them with you."

Hermione smiled sadly. "I really do hope so too, Camilla. I know that there are no guarantees of anything, but I _really_ do hope so too."

* * *

Hermione checked on the purple beaded bag she had packed for the umpteenth time in an hour.

Everything she needed was in there.

All the potions she needed; a few Spell Spheres that she had either made or been given here, along with other miscellaneous supplies.

How did all of those things manage to hold in there?

A simple Undetectable Extension Charm on the bag and everything held in there with no problems whatsoever.

She had also charmed it so that it would only open for her and when she finally met with Harry in person again, she would charm it so that he too, would have access to the bag if needed.

All the written information she had been given about Gringotts had been set alight the previous night with a simple _Incendio,_ and she had watched as the ashes drifted off into the Tir Nan Og winds, leaving no trace of them behind whatsoever.

Tucking it into her rucksack (which did _not_ have an Undetectable Extension Charm placed on it), she retrieved the letter she had written to Camilla and checked her sleeve for the umpteenth time to be sure that her wand was still there.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

 _"Right. I have done all that I can to prepare. It is time to send Camilla off so I can go on my way. Crookshanks is already with Isaac and Andrina, so he is fine..."_ she thought.

She opened her eyes and exhaled.

"Hermione?" she turned to glance at Camilla, who had been in a next room, getting herself ready to leave.

"Yes?"

"I... I am ready."

Hermione nodded.

"Before we go down to meet Nebula, I wanted to give you this," Hermione handed over the white envelope.

"Huh?" Camilla raised an eyebrow at it as she took it. "What is it?"

"You may open it now if you like... or you can always open it when you get to Magix," Hermione suggested.

"I want to open it now. While I still have you..." Camilla opened the envelope.

As Hermione watched the pixie read, tears started to form in Camilla's eyes.

Then, she looked at the photo and she bust out crying.

"Oh, Hermione!" she dropped the letter and photo and hugged Hermione tightly. "I really wish that you did not have to go!"

Hermione found herself sniffling a bit too.

"I wish I did not have to go too, Camilla. You know why I have to, though."

"I know!" Camilla wailed.

Hermione did her best to soothe the distressed pixie.

"Come on, now. I am sure you will want to take the letter and picture with you, so let's get these back together and go down to meet Nebula, shall we?" Hermione knelt down and retrieved them, putting them back into the envelope and handing them to the tearful pixie.

Apparently not trusting herself to not burst into tears if she tried speaking again, she nodded as she accepted the letter.

Hermione motioned for her to follow her as she walked out the door.

* * *

Out on the ground near the Tir Nan Og castle, Hermione and Camilla approached Nebula, who had been waiting for them.

Nebula nodded to them as she saw them approaching, before turning her back to them and waving her arms to make a portal.

A purplish dark blue portal formed in front of the fairy queen.

Anahita stepped through it, followed by Livy, who looked uncharacteristically serious.

"Greetings, Your Majesty," Anahita bowed to the fairy queen, before turning her sight towards Hermione and Camilla.

"Hermione," Anahita nodded. "and Camilla. Are you ready to go?"

Camilla nodded.

Livy flew over to her and took her hand, before guiding her towards the portal.

Anahita walked over to Hermione and offered a hand, which Hermione took. "It has been a pleasure knowing you, Hermione. I always find conversations with you to be quite mentally invigorating. Please try not to die. It would be quite a shame if you did."

They shook hands firmly as Hermione chuckled wryly.

"I know. Perhaps if I survive this, we could collaborate on a book comparing our kinds of magic."

"I look forward to it," Anahita smiled.

She turned towards the portal, ushering the pixies through first and before stepping through herself, turned to wave at Hermione who waved back.

Seconds later, they were gone.

"Well, Camilla is in good hands now, so it is your turn," Nebula turned to her.

Hermione nodded as Nebula made a portal for her.

"It has been a pleasure for my sister and myself hosting you here, Hermione. You were a worthy sparring partner for me and a worthy discussion partner for Morgana. Try not to get killed while helping Harry with your little dark lord problem, won't you? It would be a pity for the world to lose an incredible individual such as yourself."

Nebula offered a hand for Hermione to shake and she took it.

"Thank you, Your Majesty. It is nice to hear that you think so highly of me," Hermione felt truly flattered.

"It is the truth, is it not?" Nebula shrugged. "As I said before, try not to die. You will be welcome to return to Tir Nan Og when this is all over someday."

Hermione nodded.

"Well then, it is time for you to go," Nebula gestured towards the portal and as Hermione walked towards it and then stepped through it, the last words that she heard from the fairy queen were: _"Good luck."_

* * *

Hermione emerged from the other side of the portal onto the front step of Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place.

Not stopping to look around at the London streets, she immediately opened the door and stepped inside, making sure to lock it behind her.

Walking quietly so as to not arouse the ire of Mrs Black's portrait, she made her way up to the bedroom that she had once shared with Ginny during a summer that seemed a long time ago now.

Sirius had still been alive.

Ron had still been alive.

Shaking her head to clear it of those thoughts, she removed the rucksack and placed it on the bed, taking out the beaded bag and rummaging around in the rucksack for a few miscellaneous items she hadn't packed into the magically modified bag.

After a few minutes of checking to see if everything she brought with her was still in good condition and apparently being satisfied by it, she pulled her phone from her pocket and called Harry.

"I'm at Grimmauld Place," Hermione spoke as soon as she answered. "I have all the supplies I said that I would bring and all is well."

"Good, good," Harry nodded. "How does it feel to be back home?"

Hermione rolled her eyes. "It would feel better if we did not have a war to deal with."

"You are right," Harry sighed. "Coming back home... only to deal with Voldemort is not exactly my idea of a triumphant homecoming either."

"So, what is happening on your end? Is all fine there?" Hermione asked.

"Yes, yes. So far, so good." Harry nodded. "I will be leaving here tomorrow and checking in with someone for a day, then the day after tomorrow, I will be back in Britain. We can move out as soon we are ready to after I get there."

"It's odd, after not seeing each other in person for so many months, that when we finally get together again, we're off on a life risking adventure," Hermione paused. "then again, perhaps not..."

Harry chuckled. "It is just like old times, isn't it?"

After a few moments of silence, Harry spoke again.

"Right. Anyway, I will see you in a few days. I asked Dobby to stock some food up for us and he did so. Also, remember that I asked him to respond to your calls as well as mine, so feel free to ask him if you need anything, alright?" Harry told her.

"I will. Also, when you are coming in here, I know it is your house and all since Sirius left it to you in his will, but could you please call in advance or something to let me know you are coming, so I do not accidentally kill you as you walk through the front door?" Hermione asked.

Harry chortled. "I understand. Feeling a bit jumpy, eh? I will do that and let the others know as well. As for the Floo, Remus put a lock on it for me, so they will not be able to come through there either."

"That is great to hear. The more secure this place is, the better." Hermione said.

"Indeed. Like I said before though, I will see you in a few days." Harry said. "There are some things I need to do now before I head off. Do not expect any calls from me before then. I expect that I will be pretty busy."

"I expect to be pretty busy as well, so I probably will not even miss you until you actually get here, _Mr Potter,_ " Hermione teased.

Harry rolled his eyes. "I see how things are, _Miss Granger._ Anyway, see you in a few!"

The call ended.

Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Some things just remain the same, don't they?"

* * *

A while later, Hermione found herself in the kitchen which felt rather lonely without the lively crowd that had also been in it the last time she was here.

Jokes and food all around; not even a moment of silence as they ate...

Now, all she had was a simple toasted ham and cheese sandwich with some salad and water to drink, courtesy of Dobby.

Not that she was complaining about the food which was more than satisfactory.

Oh no.

It was just that the last time she was here, it was a veritable buffet of food basically covering the entire table, but here she was, a solitary plate and glass in front of her at the otherwise empty table.

How war could change the things that you took for granted...

The people that had gone into hiding, the people that were still fighting, the people that were lost...

She glanced across the table, at a chair that Ron had once sat in.

Had he been alive, he would be right here with her planning and waiting for Harry to arrive, so they could go off on yet another crusade against Voldemort.

It was almost a year since Ron Weasley had died... since he was _murdered_ and yet, she still missed him dearly.

She knew in her heart that it was not wrong to feel the way she did; that many other people took _years_ to move on after the death of a loved one, but she still felt a bit guilty for missing him.

Not as much as she would have felt for _not_ missing him though...

Feeling a headache building up, she rubbed her temples.

Mourn later, focus on being alive _to_ mourn (and do other things of course) now.

Dobby had gathered some newspapers from the past few weeks and placed them upstairs in her room- at her request, once she found out from him that Harry had asked him to do so.

She planned on going back up there and reading those newspapers to see if there was any sort of helpful information she could glean from them.

Anything small, such as information about the policies being drafted that neither she nor Harry knew much about; important figures in the Death Eater government; deaths that they should be aware of...

Every little detail counts when it came to what they were doing, after all.

* * *

She knew from the accounts of Remus, Dumbledore and the others that things were bad, but just seeing them for herself in front of her in printed form just made her all the more eager to help put it to an end.

Known Death Eaters were now running things at the Ministry of Magic and she highly suspected that the current Minister of Magic, Pius Thicknesse, was a mere Puppet Minister on Lord Voldemort's behalf.

After all, Voldemort effectively was the Minister, but why would a dark lord want to trouble himself with bureaucracy all day when he could be out torturing and killing?

She suspected that he was under the Imperius Curse, as he had been Madam Bones' replacement for Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement when she had decided to step down after being attacked.

There was also the fact that no one could dig up any information on him that suggested that he was a corrupt Ministry employee.

Then again, it could simply mean that he could hide his tracks well, even from back then, or he was corrupted afterwards...

She shook her head to clear it.

Debating Pius Thicknesse's true alignment was not the most important task right now.

After nearly an hour, Hermione put down the papers and fought the urge to reach for a headache relieving potion.

The basic summation of what she had learnt was that the only place that the Death Eaters had not managed to infiltrate was Hogwarts and the only reason that was not so was because Dumbledore was still there, standing in their way.

She had no doubt however, that they were planning _something_ in order to solve that particular issue of theirs.

Well, if all things went well in a few days, they would not even be able to attempt such a thing...

She and Harry had pretty much all the information they needed.

An apparently trusted spy that Dumbledore was in touch with had told them that Bellatrix would be out of the country this week, so that made things all the better.

With her out of the way, it was far less likely that it would be discovered that Bellatrix apparently had a long lost sibling.

One of the finer details of the plan was that she would be disguising herself as Bellatrix in order to gain entry to Gringotts itself and to the vault, with Harry accompanying her under his invisibility cloak.

So many things could go wrong in that scenario, she was well aware of it, but it was the best idea they had for getting through the first and most obvious layer of security that the bank posed.

* * *

Two days later, Hermione found herself sipping on a nice, tall, cold glass of orange juice in the kitchen as she sat reading through a Charms textbook.

Her wand was on her right, just within her reach and on her left, her cell phone sat.

Harry said that he would be arriving today, so any time now, she expected that phone to ring, with that call being him announcing his impending arrival.

"The day is already halfway gone. Where the bloody hell is he?" Hermione wondered.

Seconds later, the phone rang.

Raising her eyebrows, she glanced at the caller id.

 _"Perfect timing, Harry,"_ she murmured. _"Perfect timing..."_

She answered.

"Hey, Hermione, I'm just about to land on the front steps. I am done with everything I had to do over here," he told her.

"Fantastic! Well then, _hurry up and get here!_ I want to see you!"

Hermione hung up on him.

Not even bothering to take the time to walk up to the ground floor, Hermione finished what was left of her orange juice in one gulp, slipped her phone into a pocket, grabbed her wand and Apparated up there.

A few minutes later, the door swung open and there stood Harry, who quickly shut the door behind himself.

He did not look too much different from the last time she had seen him, aside from a slight tan, hair a bit wilder (who would have ever thought that possible?) and looking somewhat more toned.

As was to be expected when attending a school such as his.

There was also the fact that he was no longer wearing glasses.

 _"Harry, what happened to your glasses?"_

 _"Hermione, why did you hang up on me?"_

They looked at each other for a few seconds, before bursting out into laughter.

"Imagine," Harry spoke between laughs. "that this is the first time we are _truly_ seeing each other in _months_ and that is the first thing we greet each other with!"

"I know, right?" Hermione laughed, not even stopping as she wordlessly Silenced Mrs Black's portrait, which had started its usual slur filled screaming that resembled a chorus of banshees.

They rushed to hug each other; not speaking again until they had broken apart.

"How are you, Harry?" Hermione asked him as she looked Harry up and down. "How are you really?"

"Alright, all things considered. School is going well, I am learning a lot from them and otherwise, plus I made a few interesting friends and that's always a good thing..." Harry shrugged. "What about you?"

"Accepting the invitation to go to Tir Nan Og did me a world of good, Harry. I was not only safe there, but I managed to learn so much, make new friends, see two other magical worlds besides the magical side of Britain and even gain a pixie bond. Camilla is adorable. She helped me out so much when I had any low moments..." Hermione smiled.

"Let us hope that when all of this is over, you can go back to her," Harry's tone got serious.

Hermione nodded. "Right. Well then, there is no time like the present, so why don't we get started by checking on our stocks of supplies and seeing how we can divide them between us?"

Harry nodded. "That sounds like a good start. By all means, lead the way."

* * *

The next day, Hermione woke up, feeling nervous.

 _Today was the day._

They _could_ have put it off for another day or two, but after she and Harry had conferred with the others, they decided that it was best not to.

She and Harry had woken up rather early and eaten a nutritious breakfast that Dobby had prepared (can't go robbing banks on an empty stomach, after all) and then separated for a while to do their own individual preparations.

Standing in her room, Hermione took a deep breath as she looked at herself in the mirror, before downing the dosage of Shapeshifter Potion in her shaking hand.

 _"Here goes nothing,"_ she thought, as she focused on the form that she was (however unwillingly) going to take.

Her hair lengthened, darkened and grew more wild; her eyes darkened and her face started rearranging itself as her body grew taller and thinner, the changes not stopping until Bellatrix Lestrange stood there in front of the mirror in Hermione Granger's clothing, the splitting image of a photograph that sat nearby.

Bellatrix-Hermione shuddered.

 _"And to complete the look..."_

After she'd changed into robes that looked like something Bellatrix might wear, she glanced over at the dresser, where her wand lay innocently.

Using a little trick that she had learnt from Camilla, she muttered a few words and the wand glowed for a few seconds, before seemingly changing its appearance.

Even though she knew it was really her wand and not Bellatrix's, she still hesitated to pick it up and kept it at arm's length, holding it between her thumb and index finger, staring at it.

 _"Stop it, Hermione!"_ she told herself. _"It's your wand, not hers."_

Tearing herself away from the disconcerting image in the mirror and clutching her wand more firmly, she began to gather her supplies.

There were some Spell Spheres that she'd managed to acquire while in Tir Nan Og as well as a few she had learnt to make on her own, as well as some healing potions and salves that she had spent the last few weeks stocking up on, mostly by making them herself and a few that Harry had given to her.

Along with a few other useful items, she packed them all into the beaded bag and tucked it inside a pocket on the inside of her robes.

Steeling herself, she went downstairs and into the kitchen, where she and Harry had agreed to meet.

A few minutes passed and Hermione began pacing up and down the kitchen, speaking aloud for the first time- with Bellatrix's voice. "I feel horrid. I really do feel horrid..."

"Dobby!" Hermione called out to the house elf.

"Yes, Mistress Hermione?" Dobby popped into the room, but looked startled at Hermione's appearance.

"It's me, Hermione!" she reassured him. "Remember when you tried to save Harry's life in our second year with the Chamber of Secrets incident? It's me!"

Dobby shuddered. "Dobby knows that it is, but he still finds it creepy, he does..."

"You can let Harry know that I'm ready to go now."

"I can do that, Mistress! Dobby hopes youse succeeds with yours and Master Harry's plotting!" Dobby gave a little bow before popping out of the room.

"Well, I tried my best to spend as much time as Camilla as possible before I came back here, and she should be having fun with the fairies and the other pixies on their trip to that resort that Rainer keeps talking about on Andros..." Hermione said, trying to reassure herself that the pixie would be fine without her. "And just in case I don't come back, she'll always have the letter and photo I left her, at least..."

She made a face of disgust as she glanced at the wand in her hand. "There are so many things that could go wrong with this scheme..."

Her mind wandered off with visions of the real Bellatrix showing up, Voldemort showing up, her inside a dungeon, being tortured and brutalised in front of Harry with him not being able to do anything about it; a sickly green light heading towards her to end it all...

Harry's voice speaking broke her out of her morbid thoughts startling her.

"Harry, don't do that!" Hermione's startled exclamation sounded more like herself than the person she was currently imitating as she turned to give Harry a glare that made her look more authentic than before.

Harry then reminded her of what was at stake, making her glare look even more menacing.

"Keep up that look, Hermione. You look more like the real thing that way." He looked her up and down approvingly, making her roll her eyes.

Her phone, which had been sitting on the counter, rang loudly, breaking the ensuing silence.

Remus, Moody and Dumbledore were on the other end, waiting to go over the plan with them at the last minute.

After they quickly did that, Harry and Hermione were wished the best of luck before the call ended.

They looked at one another.

She held out her arm and Harry grabbed it, draping the Invisibility Cloak around himself, save for his head.

"Well then," Harry's tone was falsely cheerful. "shall we?"

He pulled the Cloak fully over himself.

Even though she could no longer see him, his grip on her arm remained firm as she led them out onto the front step of Grimmauld Place and Apparated them away, hoping with all her heart that this mission would go well.

* * *

Chills went down Hermione's spine as she took in the sight of a significantly more disturbing Diagon Alley.

She knew that things were going to be awful but knowing of something and actually seeing it for yourself were two different matters entirely.

Few people dared to be out in these sorts of times, especially so early in the morning, but those that did made it their goal in life to get out of Bellatrix-Hermione's way once they saw her coming.

She held her head high and walked as if nothing bothered whatsoever.

Even though there was turmoil within her, threatening to burst forward, Hermione maintained her calm exterior, going for an aloft, nonchalant look.

She refused to be the one that broke their charade, simply because she couldn't maintain the image of a woman who hated her and everything about her.

* * *

 _Haven't heard from you readers in a bit. Let me know what you think!_


	23. Chapter 23

As she walked, Hermione took in the changes to Diagon Alley in closer detail.

Wanted posters of various Order members were plastered across the front of several boarded up shops and with a start, she realised that Harry's own face was amongst them; on posters even bigger than the others and carrying the highest reward for information leading to his capture.

Several shops dedicated entirely to the Dark Arts had sprung up, selling items that would gotten the sellers and buyers instant tickets to Azkaban if things were normal.

Even the sky seemed to have taken on the current mood in Magical Britain; the clouds a dark grey and looking as if they'd erupt with rain at any moment.

People dressed in rags, with various incorrectly healed injuries that left some of them looking deformed and others with bloodied bandages, huddled themselves in doorways and the few stragglers in the street moved as fast as they could to get out of the apparent Death Eater's path.

It was a sort of perfectly flipped version of the Diagon Alley that she had first been introduced to and it was obviously not an environment she enjoyed, compared to the first version.

Without incident, she made it to the front steps of Gringotts and moved to look around; as though she could tell that Harry was still around that way, he having lost his grip on her after their arrival.

She felt a tap on her shoulder and Harry's whispered voice let her know that he was still there.

Hermione fought down a startled reaction and would have slapped at him out of sheer annoyance if it wouldn't have drawn additional attention that they did _not_ need.

The Goblin guards, who usually flanked the entrance, were replaced by two wizards, holding long, thin, golden rods.

Bill had warned them about that.

Hermione paused; wondering briefly how exactly she would manage to Confound them without being noticed.

Whispered words in Harry's voice next to her and the feeling of spells passing by her took care of that in the next moment.

The guards allowed them entry without issue after that.

* * *

The cart made its twists and turns deep into the depths of Gringotts, far deeper than she had ever been, guided by the goblin they called Bogrod.

Hermione was on edge for every single moment of that cart ride ready to draw her wand in a split second at any given moment, for any given problem.

She rather suspected that Harry was the same, under his Invisibility Cloak.

The cart approached a waterfall and Hermione's grip tensed around her wand, where it was stashed in a sheath inside her blouse.

 _The Thief's Downfall._

In the information that Bill had given them, she had learnt that it was a potential obstacle they could... or rather, _would_ encounter; that it would cancel any enchantments on a person or object... it would work on the two of them.

If she had taken Polyjuice Potion instead of the Shapeshifter Potion it would have completely obliterated her disguise. As it was, the likely result was making the potion's effects on her unstable...

Harry's voice whispered into Hermione's ear: "Be ready."

She nodded, steeling herself for the upcoming obstacle.

The cart went through the water and lurched violently with herself and Harry barely managing to put up shield charms to protect them from the watery onslaught.

The cart sped up and derailed; going straight off the tracks and as they plummeted to the ground.

They would have been killed for certain if Harry had not managed to cast a Levitation Charm on them all, slowing them down to have a gentle landing...

Hermione's heart beat rapidly in her chest and judging by the look on Harry's face, his heart was beating in a similar fashion.

Bogrod looked around wildly. "What? What's going o-"

 _"Imperio!"_

Hermione looked at him, watching as for the first time in his life, her best friend cast an Unforgiveable spell.

She shook her head to clear it.

Desperate times came for desperate measures and if this was not a desperate situation, she did not know what would be.

Besides, there was also the chance that by the time all of this was over, she would have cast a few Unforgiveables of her own...

After collecting themselves, they made their way around various twists and turns on foot, guided by the Imperiused goblin, until they found Bellatrix's vault and entered it.

From just inside the vault's entrance, it appeared much bigger and more occupied with treasures and money than Hermione's own small vault (started for her by her parents when she was first introduced to the Wizarding world) ever dreamed of having.

And judging by the looks of some of the items, she would not have wanted to own most of those either...

Hermione felt the effects of the water they had just basically almost drowned in, causing her magic to act up and change various parts of her appearance between her own and Bellatrix's.

The best way she could describe it was as a sort of pull and push sensation, but the feeling was also accompanied by a rather offsetting one; like the vague feeling you get when you are _about_ to be sick, but you're not _actually_ sick...

"We need to get the goblet out of here quickly. They suspect." Harry said, removing his Invisibility Cloak and stowing it away.

Hermione levelled him a glare that would have made lesser people (magical or Muggle) cower in fear.

 _"You... don't... say..."_ Hermione coughed and flicked a patch of wet hair out of her face as she went further into the vault, feeling very much like she wanted to avoid anything even remotely resembling waterfalls for a _long_ time.

* * *

They were inside the vault properly now.

It was the biggest vault that Hermione had ever seen; filled to the brim with various kinds of treasures and other objects, but that wasn't the primary focus of her concern at the moment.

She was still dripping wet with the water from the Thief's Downfall, which made her current outfit cling to her frame- which felt _especially_ uncomfortable as she kept drifting between Bellatrix's form and her own and she was of a more sturdy frame than the older witch.

Even her own magic felt unstable with the effects of the magical water, feeling more and more as though there was a tug-of-war within herself as her magic fought over which form it should hold for its wielder.

"We need to get the goblet out of here quickly. They suspect." Harry said, removing his Invisibility Cloak and stowing it away.

Hermione levelled him a glare not unlike the person she was supposed to be imitating.

 _"You... don't... say..."_ Hermione coughed and flicked a patch of wet hair out of her face as she turned her back on him and went further into the vault.

She held her wand aloft and lit it; searching for the object they were after.

The sooner they were out of here, the better, after all...

It was after a minute or two when she heard Harry's exclamation and whipped around to see him pointing his own lit wand at Hufflepuff's Cup, sitting innocently atop the highest shelf.

Hermione thought briefly, before voicing those thoughts aloud. "We can't use magic to Summon it to us, but we _could_ use magic to get to it!"

Harry nodded. "Right. Levitate me up, Hermione. We need..."

Harry paused at the same time she heard it.

The sounds of chaos outside.

Angry shouts, the clink of metals (most likely weapons accompanying the owners of the angry voices) and they were only getting closer and closer.

The Goblins _did_ know that something was wrong and they were coming for them.

Shit.

Shit, shit, shit, shit, _shit._

She shook her head to clear it.

Panicking wouldn't help, after all.

Wordlessly, she levitated Harry towards the goblet, but as she did, her form flickered once again, making her hand unsteady and throwing Harry off-kilter, into a suit of armour.

The armour began to multiply itself at a rapid pace, and as one hit her in the arm, she screeched in pain as it burnt white hot; searing straight through her robes' sleeve, burning her arm and hand.

This injury was made more unfortunate by the fact that it was her wand arm/hand that the suit of armour had made impact with.

Her wand fell from her grasp, the levitation spell she had on Harry breaking as she scrambled for her fallen wand amongst the treasure, which burnt to the touch, making it harder for her to hold onto her wand.

As she finally retrieved her wand (which no longer looked like Bellatrix's), several objects came raining down on her as the treasure below her feet multiplied and she struggled to remain on her feet, even as she tried to cast a shield spell around herself, deflecting the falling treasure in several directions.

 _"I've got it, Hermione!"_ Hermione heard Harry's voice calling out. "I've got it, we can go-"

Hermione tuned him out as the door to the vault swung open and a bunch of angry goblins with _very_ pointy weapons stood in the doorway.

She immediately went on the offensive.

 _"Ventum Harenae!"_

She raised her wand swiftly into the air and as she brought it down sharply, she jabbed it forward and gusts of wind filled with sand came barrelling out of her wand.

Grains of sand began overwhelming the goblins and the force of the wind pushed some of the back, but most kept forcing their way forward.

Another spell, this time wordless and golden brown light coalesced at the tip of her wand, before elongating into a glowing energy whip, with her wand acting as a handle to it.

She swung and batted away several incoming missiles, including a spear that was headed her way.

The whip wrapped around it and adjusting the length of the whip, she used it to swing around the spear, batting away even more of the missiles with it, before using it to throw the spear towards a wall, where the tip embedded itself firmly.

A jet of dark coloured light soared over her head from behind; Harry had joined the fight, firing off his own offensive spells.

The more they fought; the more goblins seemed to appear.

"We'll never beat all of them like this!" Hermione stunned one goblin, only for several more to take his place.

Harry muttered a spell that Hermione didn't catch, and all of a sudden, the crowd of goblins was parted violently by two dark red energy walls springing up in the middle of the crowd, then separating sharply.

The two of them ran through the cleared path and around a corner, only to see more goblins coming towards them, this time accompanied by a few witches and wizards.

 _"This is just not my day!"_ Hermione exclaimed. _"Mesmerise!"_

A swipe of her wand and several spheres of energy burst out of it, surrounding several of their attackers and flashing with near blinding levels of light, enough to floor several of them as they sunk to the ground, clutching their faces as if in great pain.

Which, Hermione admitted to herself, they probably were.

Better them than her, though...

"We need to go up!" Harry shouted.

Wordlessly, he created an energy sphere around the pair of them and Hermione felt herself floating off the ground with it.

Harry called out to her for help to maintain the sphere and she touched her wand to her side of the sphere, focusing her magic into maintaining it.

As soon as she started focusing her magic into it, the sphere gained a rapid burst of speed, shooting past several levels of the bank with a blur.

Hermione noted in the back of her mind that her form had stabilised (into _her_ form) somehow during the chaos below- the Shapeshifter Potion must have been fully nullified.

She braced herself as the sphere crashed through the floor/ceiling of the bank into its main level, and for one heart stopping moment, she locked eyes with the person she was supposed to have been imitating.

"YOU!" Bellatrix Lestrange shrieked at them, not even pausing as she began flinging out Killing Curses. _"How dare you break into my vault-"_

 _"No, no, no, no, no..."_ Hermione chanted under her breath. _"This day is just going from bad to worse..._ She's supposed to be out of Britain! That's why we chose today! What- _"_

Harry took on Bellatrix and called out something to Hermione, but she was distracted by the fact that more Death Eaters were appearing.

Waving her wand in a circular motion and then jabbing it forwards sharply, Hermione repeated this motion several times.

Crackling rings of something that looked like lightning shot out of her wand each time, binding the Death Eaters' arms tightly to their bodies and shocking them, instantly taking them out of the fight.

She made another energy shield around them; covering them both as they made their way towards the doors, with her doing a slight modification to it allowing both her and Harry to throw spells out of the dome, but not allow any in, while at the same time making sure that the dome remained firm.

"We need to get out of the door! We can't dispatch _the thing_ if we are killed here!" she called out.

She screamed when just as they managed to reach the doors- which had been sealed shut, the dome shattered again and she had to duck a Killing Curse that had been aimed at Harry but missed, the _sheer energy_ that it radiated, sending chills down her spine at how close she had just come to being murdered.

 _"The doors are sealed shut... I need to break them apart, but I need time..."_ Hermione thought.

Then, an idea occurred to her.

"Harry, _cover me!_ " Hermione turned to the doors.

Raising her wand, she cast a series of spells on the door, designed to break down and analyse what spells had been cast on any objects prior.

 _"I recognise these sealing spells... none of these are Goblin cast. If I can break the seals, I will be able to blast us out of here!"_ Hermione thought.

She traced her wand on the door, muttering a series of incantations under her breath, not even stopping as she reached into her pocket for a few spell spheres to take care of some Death Eaters that she saw trying to sneak up on Harry and herself out of the corner of her eye.

She felt a surge of energy as the seals on the door broke and she smirked, before raising her wand.

One fully-powered blasting curse later and the door was blown to smithereens, sending several clumps of brick and metal careening through the air- some of which, Hermione noted with glee, had hit some of their attackers.

 _"Let's go, let's go, let's GO!"_

Hermione ran out of the destroyed doors faster than she ever thought she could, with Harry close behind her.

She felt an arm around her waist and would have cursed it off, if she hadn't realised that it was Harry at the last second, reaching for her to Apparate them away.

Bellatrix sprinted out of the bank behind them; screaming and cursing as she flung random curses all of which missed them.

She saw the older witch pull something silver from her sleeve, but before she could see what it was properly, Harry had Disapparated with her in tow.

* * *

They landed unsteadily on the front step of Grimmauld Place and Harry swung open the door as quickly as he could.

Ignoring the screams of Sirius' mother, they darted inside, slamming the door behind them.

Hermione slumped to the floor, against the wall.

 _"That was far too bloody close!"_ she moaned.

"Voldemort will know for sure that we've got his Horcruxes soon. He's not going to be pleased at all..." Harry grimaced.

"I need to go... _patch myself up._ " Hermione got to her feet with Harry's help. "Do you need my help?"

"No... I should be fine for now." Harry said. "Go. Take care of yourself."

Hermione looked at him, reluctant to leave him in his current state, but Harry waved her off with a little smile. "I'll be okay. _Go._ "

Hermione closed her eyes and turned away.

Moving as quickly as her aching muscles and wounds would allow, Hermione made her way upstairs and into the bedroom she had been using there.

Sitting on the bed, she started emptying out all of her pockets and taking stock.

She had very few spell spheres left and the few vials of healing potion and the Midnight Oil (which she couldn't take, since it would have conflicted with the Shapeshifter Potion) were miraculously intact.

Using her wand to uncork a vial, she drank its contents in one gulp.

That one was the potion to fully rid her system of the Shapeshifter Potion, just in case.

She then started dabbing various potions and salves all over her body, kicking off her boots and changing into a T-Shirt and shorts, for better access to her wounds as she did.

Once she was done, she put the vials (empty and otherwise) away and tucked her wand under one of her pillows, but inside the pillowcase.

She thought of calling Camilla to reassure her that she was alive- since the pixie would probably be feeling her distress through their bond, but decided not to play with her nerves as technically, once Voldemort found out about this latest incident (and she knew he would soon, if he hadn't already), she'd be drawn into an even bigger conflict and she had no idea if she would survive that one.

She didn't want to get her hopes up.

If she _did_ survive, once Harry put Voldemort down for good, Hermione would make it up to Camilla however she could.

Perhaps she'd take her on a vacation to France; to the places she had been with her parents in the summer before her third year at Hogwarts, in a time that seemed like it was so long ago.

She'd always wanted to go back and she'd be damned if she didn't deserve a proper vacation after this was all over.

If she survived it, of course.

She didn't even fight the sleepiness that was beginning to overcome her.

She knew that she had to get as much sleep as she could, while there was still the chance to do so, so she let herself drift off.

* * *

Reaching lazily for her phone on the bedside table and checking the time on it when she awoke, Hermione realised that she had managed to sleep for a few hours.

Getting up slowly and yawning, she stretched and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes.

Somehow, after everything she and Harry had just done, she still managed to sleep pretty well.

She felt fine.

Her system felt clean of potions of any sorts; she no longer ached from any injuries sustained...

It was amazing what wonders sleep could do for you...

Feeling fully awake now, she got out of bed and got fully dressed, in a jacket, jeans and combat boots (charmed as best as she could, plus the clothes covered as much of her as they possibly could) just in case they would have to leave at a moment's notice.

She found those clothes much easier to move in than the robes she had been hours prior, so if she had to jump into the fray any time soon, at least she would be able to move freely...

She also made sure to ensure that any supplies she needed were already packed and ready to be grabbed and moved with at any time.

Tucking her wand inside her jacket, she headed downstairs in search of Harry, finding him in the kitchen.

"I find that sleep does wonders, don't you?" Harry asked her as she crossed the threshold.

"Oh, indeed it does..." Hermione took the plate of food which Harry had apparently had Dobby prepare for her and spoke to him between mouthfuls.

"So... How are we destroying Hufflepuff's Cup?" Hermione winced at the idea of destroying an object that had actually once belonged to a Hogwarts Founder.

Harry reached for a bag he had under his seat and while touching as little of it as he could, laid the corrupted Goblet on the table between them.

Hermione unconsciously moved her plate farther away from it as she ate, staring at it the entire time until she finished, Vanishing the plate and the accompanying cutlery.

"There are a few methods available such as cursing it via Fiendfyre or the Killing Curse, but as much as I might have changed in the past few months, I am not comfortable with such spells..." she frowned.

A few moments of silence passed between them before Hermione spoke again.

"We could always ask Dumbledore to bring the Sword of Gryffindor here and stab the thing up..." Hermione suggested.

"An appealing idea," Harry agreed. "Or we could go to the Chamber of Secrets and get a Basilisk fang to use on it..."

"Also a good idea, but can we pull it off?" Hermione asked. "We can't Apparate directly in to Hogwarts as you are well aware and Hogsmeade is teeming with so many Death Eaters, it's a wonder that none of them have found a way to break into Hogwarts yet..."

"I can't Summon Dobby and have him bring us in either. Dumbledore closed that flaw in the Hogwarts wards himself..." Harry mused.

As Harry spoke of a few more options and Hermione voiced her opinions on them, a bright flash of light and fire filled the corner at that moment, startling her and Harry.

Hermione screamed, drawing her wand as she almost fell out of her chair, while Harry swore, tumbling out of his chair as well.

"I apologise for startling you both," Dumbledore chuckled, not looking sorry in the slightest as Fawkes hovered behind him.

 _"Bloody hell. Nearly gave me a heart attack..."_ Harry muttered darkly.

Hermione found herself thinking a few uncharitable thoughts about Dumbledore herself.

"...but I come bringing something to use to destroy the Horcrux." Dumbledore continued on as if he did not hear hers and Harry's mutterings as he laid a long black case on the table and opened it up, revealing the Sword of Gryffindor.

Hermione narrowed her eyes at him. _"Convenient timing..."_

"Just as we're considering how to get this thing to Hogwarts to get it destroyed, you show up..." Harry looked at Dumbledore with equal suspicion.

"Either way, I was still going to come here to see if you truly had the last Horcrux so you would not have needed to make such a trip..." Dumbledore pointed out.

Oh.

 _Right._

 _"That was to be expected,"_ Hermione reminded herself. _"He would not just have us sitting around here with a Horcrux and not check in with us to see that it was properly destroyed..."_

Harry face-palmed. "I really should have remembered that. We've just been so jumpy since the robbery we just pulled off..."

"Which is excusable." Dumbledore simply nodded. "Now, I do believe that we have more important business to discuss for the moment..." he gestured to the sword.

Hermione held up her wand and levitated the Horxcrux closer to Dumbledore's end of the table, not wanting to touch the cursed item at all, if she could help it.

The cursed cup floated back onto the table and after making a light clunk sound as it was set down, sat there in eerie silence.

"Well then," Dumbledore spoke cheerfully. "Who would like to do us the honours of finishing off Voldemort's last Horcrux?"

"I think Hermione should do it." Harry spoke quickly, drawing objections from the witch in question. "She's the only one of us here who's not gotten to destroy one and she helped get it so why not?"

Hermione's eyes widened.

"I've done some reading Harry," she started, after having gotten over her shock at the suggestion.

 _"Obviously..."_ Harry rolled his eyes.

Hermione continued on as though she did not hear him.

"...and I know that the Horcrux will _actually try to fight back_ in its own way when you try to destroy it. Can we contain such a reaction here if... anything goes wrong?"

That was another concern of hers, besides finding a method that would actually work with little to no adverse effects on them...

"There is no need to worry yourself about that, Hermione. I'm sure that should anything go wrong, Harry and myself shall more than able to rectify it. Now, _will you make the attempt?_ " Dumbledore pressed.

Hermione looked between the Sword, the Horcrux and Harry, who smiled reassuringly at her.

 _"I really should,"_ she thought. _"I can do this. Ignore the fact that I am destroying an object created by a Hogwarts Founder, by using another object created by a Hogwarts Founder. I am not destroying history, I am destroying_ _ **Voldemort.**_ _"_

Hermione took a deep breath, closed her eyes for a brief moment and then spoke.

 _"I will do it,"_ she spoke determinedly. _"_ there is _no_ sense at all in putting it off any longer than it has to be!"

She got up and reached for the sword gingerly, closing her fingers around the hilt of the object that had once belonged to Godric Gryffindor himself and willing herself to have a bit of his reputed courage.

She held it even firmer and felt her face settle into a determined expression as she lined herself up to get a good aim at the cup.

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed that Harry and Dumbledore stepped aside, both of them with their wands ready, just in case.

Swinging the sword high, she plunged it straight into the middle of the cup, wasting no time.

It let out a bloodcurdling scream as a black cloud erupted from it, which dissipated after a few seconds.

She stared at the now destroyed cup, chest heaving as she continued to hold the sword outstretched towards it, a bit of paranoia in the back of her mind that it was not _truly_ destroyed but merely _looked_ that way.

"Well," she started, breathing heavily. "is it truly destroyed? No chance of repairing it, not even Voldemort could fix it?"

"It is indeed, Miss Granger. The Horcrux is completely destroyed. Voldemort's taint no longer remains." Dumbledore nodded.

"Great." Hermione dropped the sword into its case and plopped herself into a chair. All of Voldemort's Horcruxes are finally done for. I'm only sorry that he had the _gall_ to taint such _valuable historical items_ so that we'd have to destroy them..."

Seriously.

She got to see two of the items at one time, only to have to use one to destroy the other.

 _What a disappointment._

Harry chuckled. "Only you, Hermione. Only you... Still, it really _is_ a shame..."

"We all know that he would never settle for just any _ordinary_ object to store a bit of his soul in. His pride would never allow it," Dumbledore said.

Hermione found herself thinking some rather dark thoughts about using Gryffindor's sword on Slytherin's heir.

"So now that the matter of finally finding and destroying Voldemort's last Horcrux is over, let's move onto other important matters. _Does he know?_ " Harry's tone made even Dumbledore straighten up.

"If he does not yet know why you were in Gringotts, it will only be a matter of time before he does and will know that you were successful. He will also want to check to make sure his other Horcruxes are safe and sound. I am sure that you both can guess where such a trip would eventually lead him."

Hermione looked at Harry in horror, her expression mirroring his.

 _"Hogwarts."_

They spoke in unison.

" _Precisely._ I have done my best to upgrade the protections to the school and have received plenty of help doing so from Order members and more skilled refugees that live there now. However, even though it has managed to keep out even a Voldemort-controlled Ministry of Magic thus far, it might not hold up with this recent development _when-_ not _if_ but _when_ he comes calling."

Hermione's mind was going through the ideas of what Voldemort might be doing/commanding his Death Eaters to be doing and none of them (quite naturally) were pleasant in the slightest.

She shook her head, willing herself to focus on Dumbledore's words, rather than her own imagination.

"I have been making preparations for our guests to move on should trouble arise, however..."

Dumbledore trailed off by a tabby cat-shaped Patronus floating into the room.

 _"Death Eaters attacking Hogsmeade. Making their way towards Hogwarts."_ McGonagall's voice issued from the Patronus.

Hermione looked at Harry and Dumbledore as the Patronus dissipated.

"I will give you five minutes to gather anything you may need before we leave." the old Headmaster immediately switched to a commanding tone.

Hermione was out of her chair before the Headmaster had even finished half of his sentence.

Reaching the stairs, she did not even bother climbing up them, instead just Apparating straight into her room and grabbing the utility belt and bottomless bag, which she clipped onto the belt.

She Apparated back into the kitchen, to find Harry already back and clearly ready to go, judging by the weaponry and other things strapped onto him.

He tossed her a bag of Spell Spheres and a vial of Midnight Oil, which she caught simultaneously with both hands, swiftly drinking the potion with one hand and packing the Spell Spheres with the other.

Dumbledore motioned for them to take either one of his arms.

Hermione grabbed his left, while Harry grabbed his right.

The next thing that Hermione knew, all three of them were engulfed in flames and she could no longer see Grimmauld Place.


	24. Chapter 24

_More_ fire.

The first thing that Hermione saw as they arrived in Hogsmeade was fire.

Lots and _lots_ of fire, sending thick, billowing clouds of black, acrid smoke into the sky.

Screams of terror and despair rang in her ears as they took in the sight of the carnage around them.

Dead and almost bodies lay in the street, many of them sporting some rather grotesque injuries.

There were several Death Eaters randomly casting spells at buildings and random people just trying to escape, cackling wildly with amusement as they spread their terror.

Dumbledore simply nodded to them, before hurrying off to join the fray.

She and Harry took off in the opposite direction.

They dodged random bits of flying debris and spells with various coloured beams of light, before they ended up on Hogsmeade's main street, near to The Three Broomsticks.

Madam Rosmerta stood in front of the half-wrecked establishment, doing her best to duel with three Death Eaters at once.

Harry reacted quickly; casting a Blasting Hex which caught one of Rosmerta's attackers, sending him careening through the air and crashing into the ground, snapping his neck upon impact.

The other two Death Eaters (and Rosmerta) looked around so see where the spell had come from and once they saw where the attack had come from, they immediately turned on them.

"It's Potter and his Mudblood!" one of them called out, immediately firing off a Killing Curse.

"Don't kill them!" his partner hollered out. "The Dark Lord wants Potter alive!"

 _"You will get him over my dead body!"_ Hermione thought, raising her wand.

Rosmerta forgotten, they engaged the pair.

"The Dark Lord ain't want the Mudblood bitch though!"

Hermione felt the fury course through her veins.

So... she was _just_ a _Mudblood bitch,_ was she?

 _"Trowch i Garreg!"_

A dark grey light came from her wand as she jabbed it forward viciously.

As soon as the light hit the Death Eater, he began to scream as he quickly turned to stone.

She quickly followed it up with a wordless exploding curse, sending stone bits of the Death Eater scattering about the place.

Hermione could not relent as yet though; there were still other hostiles around to take care of, as her wand moved in various motions, several different coloured beams of light rushing out of it, as different spells took effect on her opponents.

Harry threw up a shield around, and used the small bit of time he gained from it to draw one of his daggers and using a banishing spell on it, propelled it towards the Death Eater.

It went straight through his eye socket drawing screams from him.

Harry summoned it back to him and with a simple flick of his wand, it was clean and strapped to him once again.

He breathed heavily as he stared down the Death Eater, who twitched one final time, before going still.

"That was an... _interesting_ spell you used just now, Hermione." Harry stood up straighter as he turned to her once all of their immediate opponents had been felled.

"Yes , well, I learnt it in Tir Nan Og. It's a petrification spell invented by a Welsh fairy who lived around the Middle Ages or so." Hermione explained.

"I find it a bit ironic, given events in our second year..." Harry raised an eyebrow.

Hermione simply shrugged.

 _"What can I say?"_ she thought. _"They play dirty and so will I if it means we survive."_

The ground started shaking violently at that point, throwing them and Rosmerta off their feet.

When they got back up and steadied themselves, Rosmerta ran down another street, her wand raised high.

"Thanks for the help!" she called out to them, even as she ran.

"We need to get to Hogwarts. That's his prime target. That's where he's going." Harry clutched his wand even tighter.

Hermione simply nodded and the two ran off, through the chaos, trying to make their way up to their former school.

* * *

Chaos.

There was more chaos throughout the entire village of Hogsmeade as she and Harry made their way through the Wizarding village.

Panicking people surrounded them as parts of the beloved village _literally_ fell to pieces around them; caught in the crosshairs of the violence that had erupted.

"Come _on,_ Harry! We really need to-" Hermione urged him on, adrenaline and terror fuelling her.

"I bloody _know,_ Hermione!" Harry cut her off, irritated. "I can tell by everything going on around us!"

He pulled the two of them into a nearby alley as a pair of Death Eaters, wands raised, charged past, chasing after a man carrying a wailing little boy.

She watched as Harry aimed a pair of Spell Spheres held between his fingers after the pursuers, which ended up turning one of them into a sparrow and coating the other in a yellowish-brown substance which hardened upon contact, immediately locking him into place, just in time for a burning piece of stone to come hurtling through the air and crash into him, shattering him into flaming bits.

Hermione shuddered.

Sure, she might have petrified and shattered a Death Eater deliberately (whereas Harry had done so unintentionally), but the effect was still not a pleasant one to see.

Especially as unlike her, he did not actually petrify the Death Eater, but just coated him in something, the result being bloodied, hardened body parts set ablaze...

Like something out of a low budget horror film.

Except that this was no film and the horror was very, _very_ real...

"There's got to be a way that we can do this quicker. Couldn't we just Apparate to the Hogwarts gates?" Harry's voice snapped her out of her stupor.

"Sure, if you want to go into it blindly," she pointed out. "Suppose we did that and ended up getting right into the path of a Killing Curse? I don't know about you but I would rather not test my luck in this kind of situation..."

Of all the ways she could possibly die here, she would hate to die due to something like a little bad luck...

"That is true, but it's a risk we'll just have to take, won't we?" Harry asked. "We stand more chance of getting caught the longer we remain out in the open like this..."

Before Hermione could respond, Harry had already grabbed her and Apparated to the Hogwarts gates.

Hermione glared at him for it and would have scolded him as well were it not for the more important task at hand.

She could smell the acrid smoke and hear the awful sounds of the battle being fought throughout Hogsmeade all because of what she and Harry had done.

No.

Voldemort would have attacked anyway, regardless of what she and Harry had done earlier in the day.

She closed her eyes briefly as they passed through the gates of their former school, ignoring the feeling of the wash of magic over her as she and Harry officially set foot onto Hogwarts grounds once again.

* * *

There was complete and utter bedlam throughout Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Owls were flying about madly as people ran up down and all around trying to gather relatives and friends together to get them to safety.

House Elves were popping all around the place, evidently helping with the evacuation or putting their own protective measures in place.

The people in the portraits dashed through different frames many giving rallying cries for the battle that they knew was coming.

The majority of the people were coming from the direction of the Great Hall, so that was where Hermione headed briskly, Harry close behind her.

As soon as she crossed the threshold, she saw McGonagall and Flitwick standing atop a raised platform, appearing to give out instructions to a group of people around their age.

Before either she or Harry could draw attention to themselves, McGonagall looked up.

 _"Potter? Granger?"_

Their former Transfiguration professor looked at them as if she could not quite believe what she was seeing.

Which, given the circumstances... could swing either way if you thought about it...

At her surprised words, everyone who was still in the hall turned in unison to look in their direction.

All made varying screeches of shock and joy.

"Potter! It's him! It's Harry Potter! _He's back!_ Look over there!" Hermione recognised Romilda Vane, a girl that was two years below her and Harry and a fellow Gryffindor as she pointed and jumped in excitement.

"Granger's here too!" Susan Bones exclaimed. "It's true! We're _really_ going to fight back this time!"

"Good to see that you have come to join the fight, Potter!" Flitwick hopped off the table he'd been standing on and made his way over to them at speeds that Hermione would have ever thought possible.

"Shall today be the day that you finally finish off that foul fiend?" Flitwick queried.

"I bloody well hope so. I've had enough of him for a long, _long_ time..." Harry said to general cheers- which included her own.

"What can we do now?" Hermione asked.

"Some of us are evacuating those of us who cannot or do not want to fight. Others are doing their best to keep him and his ilk out for a little while longer. There's also some of us spreading the word about what's happening; calling for backup and such. Take your pick." Flitwick explained.

Harry and Hermione looked at one another.

After a moment of silence passed between them, Hermione made her choice.

"I'll go help with the defences."

"Go with that group then," Flitwick nodded his head towards a group that had just moved off.

Hermione nodded, gave Harry a tight hug, wished him good luck and ran off to catch up with the others that had gone.

Just she caught up to the group as they made it through the doors, the ground shook violently; throwing many off their feet and eliciting screams, some of which came from outside of the Great Hall.

Hermione herself managed to remain steady and helped Terry Boot (who was closest to her) to his feet.

"Thanks for the save, Granger," he spoke even as he quickly recovered and started casting spells towards the outside, where chaos was brewing.

"It looks like it may just be too late to start casting protective spells to keep the Death Eaters out," Tracey Davis murmured from just behind Hermione.

Indeed, it looked to be that way, as Hermione could also see that several Death Eaters and some assorted dark creatures were crossing the farthest borders of the Hogwarts grounds...

Besides Tracey, Terry and herself, Romilda was a part of their group, as well as Parvati, Lisa Turpin, Roger Davies, Megan Jones, Ernie MacMillan and Cormac McLaggen.

Not all of them were people that she would have been pleased to work with on a regular basis, but this was a battle that could potentially kill them all over the next few hours, so she would take what she would get and hope for the best.

"Well," Cormac spoke up. "they are already on the grounds, but we can make sure that they do not leave here today."

"Bloody right, you are!" Ernie exclaimed as they all found themselves fully outside and into the fray.

Tracey, Megan and Hermione reacted the quickest to some curses that headed in their direction; the three young women throwing up shield charms that were so powerful, that the combined force of them bounced back several of the curses back towards their attackers.

"HA! Take that, you bastards!" Megan shrieked, retaliating with a volley of curses of her own, which passed unhindered through their shield.

Ernie passed through the shield and started trading curses with a Death Eater near the front of the invading crowd.

Romilda was the same, moving with an agility that Hermione vaguely envied as she dodged every single curse that came her way, while firing back some of her own.

Hermione, Tracey and Megan finally dropped their shields; fully immersing themselves into the fight.

"There is Potter's Mudblood!" she heard some of the Death Eaters calling out as they noticed her. "Potter must be out here somewhere!"

"First of all," Hermione narrowed her eyes at them. "Don't call me a _Mudblood._ Secondly... I belong to NO ONE!"

Fire and fury erupted from Hermione as she fought ferociously; she was determined to not only survive today, but also put the Death Eaters and their allies down.

Preferably down six feet under.

She recalled everything she had learnt over the past few months during her stay in Tir Nan Og, as well as what she had known from the moment that she had known that she was a witch.

Spells shot out from the various towers and windows of the castle; soaring over her and into the incoming crowd of hostiles.

There were already a few bodies scattered around (in some cases, rather literally), but from this distance, she could not tell whether they were friend or foe.

She heard the telltale cracks of Apparition as people from both sides started to Apparate in.

The protective enchantments around the school must have fully fallen...

With a surge of energy, she fired off a large energy blast from her wand that blasted the Death Eaters she had been battling several feet away and into the Forbidden Forest, where they were promptly trampled by a horde of centaurs who emerged from it to join the fight; their bows and arrows raised and aiming for Death Eaters.

A new set of fighters charged through the gates; many of them Order of the Phoenix members.

Moody, Bill, Fleur, Charlie, Fred and George were in the front; followed by Percy, Molly, Arthur, Rosmerta and the man who ran the Hog's Head.

Kingsley charged past all of them and immediately found himself locked into a duel with Rabastan Lestrange...

As she moved through the grounds; fighting and helping wherever she could, she noticed that several fighters had taken to the sky on brooms.

Oliver Wood, Angelina Johnson, Cho Chang, Roger Davies, Dean Thomas and several others that she had known to be good Quidditch players or just good fliers in general while at school were now airborne and shooting several spells at their enemies.

She had been lucky that she had not been seriously harmed so far (only obtaining a few minor cuts and bruises) but she knew that her luck would not hold out for long if she pushed it.

She did not have years of experience and knowledge (like people like Dumbledore or Morgana would) and neither did she have any formal combat training (like Harry did), so she tried her best to keep any other scrambles she got into here short.

The more she remained out in the open, the more likely she was to be caught in the crossfire.

Her mind made up, she decided to try fighting nearer and perhaps inside the castle itself, where there would be more opportunities for cover.

She was confident that she was good for an amateur fighter, but still.

She was here and she was fighting, was she not? So why would it matter how she fought, as long as she _did_ fight?

She heard screams coming from the direction of the Forbidden Forest and her eyes widened.

Swarms of Acromantulas were emerging from the forest and attacking both Death Eaters and defenders of Hogwarts alike.

She began running.

She ran faster than she ever had before, all the while defending herself from errant spells and flying debris.

The doors of the castle were in sight once again.

She was almost there.

She glanced back and saw more Acromantulas getting far too close for comfort.

She sped up.

She was almost there...

The Acromatulas were even closer...

She was almost there...

She could see Harry in the distance fighting some Acromatulas who had already breached the castle and setting them ablaze.

She was just about to try Apparating closer to him when an Acromantula caught up to her and snatched her off the ground.

She screamed.

 _"HARRY!"_

* * *

No, no, no, no, no...

She was _not_ about to be killed and eaten by a giant spider.

Although, she guessed that she had been in luck so far with this particular situation in that it had not grabbed her with its teeth...

Instead, it was carrying her off with two of its legs, running off on the other six of them faster than she had thought was possible...

She fired several stinging jinxes a few cutting curses and even attempted to set it on fire, but nothing would make it release its determined hold on her.

 _"Arania Exumai!"_

She heard two voices exclaim from somewhere behind her as blue light engulfed the giant arachnid and sent both it and her soaring through the air as it lost its grip on her.

She screeched in terror as her wand went flying from her grasp, leaving her unable to do anything to make her fall less likely to be a fatal one.

Before she could hit the ground, she felt someone jump up to catch her, holding her firmly until they landed a few seconds later.

Opening her eyes (having closed them in preparation for impact), she looked up into the face of the person who had caught her.

Harry.

Looking around, Hermione saw the Springsteens standing there, their wands still raised.

They had obviously been the ones to make that Acromantula release her with that spell.

"We got your message." Isaac spoke almost casually.

"It's a bloody good thing you did or I'd have likely lost another best friend today..." Harry spoke as Hermione finally relinquished her tight grip on him and allowed him to put her down.

"Thank you," Hermione accepted her wand from Andrina, who had Summoned it and then promptly handed it over.

Andrina smiled wryly. "The battle's not over yet. Just try to survive until the end and that will be adequate thanks enough!"

The couple ran off, immediately jumping to defence of a small group of student-aged witches and wizards who had found themselves surrounded by a group of Death Eaters.

"I bloody well plan to. I have way too many things I want to do for me to die today!" Hermione exclaimed.

 _"Travel, meet new and interesting people, study, help rebuild Magical Britain after this, visit my parents' graves and Ron's grave to tell them that we managed to win against the people who killed them..."_ she thought.

A loud rumbling sound overhead snapped her out of her thoughts of plans for the future.

Looking up, she raised an eyebrow as she recognised one of Harry's squad mates riding in on a hover bike.

The one that she heard was dating Rainer.

"I received your message." he pulled a gun from his waistband and shot at a few Acromantulas who dared to get too close. "The others will be here soon."

"Glad to see you here anyway. The more, the merrier." Harry pulled out both his swords, clenching one in each hand.

Oh yes, Lucas was his name.

"So, what message is this he was talking about, Harry?" Hermione raised an eyebrow at her best friend.

"I sent a message to a few interested people telling them that shit was about to go down here. They asked me to so they could make the choice to come and fight if they wanted to." Harry explained.

She, Harry and Lucas paused the conversation to deflect curses aimed at them (with a spell and two weapons respectively), which rebounded at their attackers.

Hermione eyed Harry's swords, which were still clenched in his hands. "Perhaps I should take up sword fighting one day."

"Don't." Harry said simply as he flexed both swords to deflect a pair of stray curses. "Sword fighting doesn't really strike me as your sort of thing."

She was not being serious, but it was _so_ reassuring that Harry thought so well of her.

She huffed, indignant despite the situation.

As they made their way towards the castle for cover, Hermione felt the weather (pleasantly warm for a late spring) beginning to feel less and less warm as the air around them seemed to freeze.

Clouds seemed to form out of nowhere, blotting out the sun entirely.

"That cannot be rain now... can it?" Lucas wondered. "The change in the atmosphere is far too sudden..."

Suddenly, some of the worst memories of her life came to the forefront of her mind; unbidden.

The memories of losing her parents; of the attack on the Hogwarts Express, learning that Ron had died...

Hermione's heart sunk as she considered what she knew, even through those dark thoughts.

She knew of only one dark creature that could cause such an effect on the mind and on the environs.

From the forest, black hooded figures floated and all three of them immediately began to feel cold inside.

" _Dementors?_ " Hermione was even more horrified than before, which in retrospect, she did not think was possible. "I thought that they were-"

 _"Expecto Patronum!"_

Hermione raised her wand in an attempt to cast the Patronus Charm, but she nearly felt her heart stop as she watched her silvery otter fizzle out before it could have any real effect.

Beside her, Harry was having similar misfortune with his own Patronus Charm his own stag also fading away before it could have any effect on the Dementors.

A silver hare, boar and fox soared past Hermione, Harry and Lucas; Luna, Ernie and Seamus had arrived, their wands outstretched.

Several people now had their wands aimed at the Dementors now.

Cho, who had landed as soon as she saw the Dementors coming conjured her swan, a tiger burst out of Parvati's wand, an owl and a beaver from Andrina and Isaac respectively...

Dozens of Patronuses rose up; pushing back the Dementors.

Hermione, her mind cleared more by the presence of Patronuses doing tier job, managed to think of some of her happier moments.

Her memories of growing up with a loving mother and father; friendship with Harry and Ron, her later romantic relationship with the latter, her continuous academic success, meeting Camilla and bonding with her; her time spent in Tir Nan Og...

Her Patronus burst forward; bright as could be, rushing forward to join the others in repelling the Dementors.

 _"What_ _ **were**_ _those foul things?!"_

Hermione looked around at the sound of Lucas' voice and saw the dark skinned Specialist looking rather rattled.

She really could not blame him.

"Those foul things were Dementors." Hermione breathed. "Evil, soul sucking creatures with only one spell known to defend against them. Unfortunately, that spell is also rather difficult..."

"I never wish to encounter such foul creatures again..." Lucas declared.

"No one in their right mind would..." Harry murmured and Hermione could not help but agree with her best friend

Two Red Fountain aircraft (she recognised them through pictures that Harry had sent her) whooshed past them in the air (the force of it flying over them making her wobble a bit) with one of them firing several blasts at a particularly large giant who fell back into the Forbidden Forest, crushing several of the trees and making an extremely loud thud that shook the ground upon making impact with it.

Hermione watched Lucas look at Harry.

"I am willing to bet ten Magix Dollars that Darian is flying that ship." he said.

Harry shook his head. "That's a fool's bet. No deal."

The smaller aircraft of the two opened up and Harry's fellow squad mate that Hermione recognised as Aki flew out on his own hoverbike, followed by about a dozen other students.

The larger aircraft opened up and a smaller amount of students flew out on their own hoverbikes.

"Hey guys!" Aki threw two small earpiece/microphone sets to Harry and Lucas. "Use 'em. It'll make like easier if you do."

Suddenly, several screams came from the direction of the castle as part of the Astronomy tower gave way under the weight of several curses and a giant who had punched it, just before being blasted away by one off the Red Fountain craft.

Oh sweet Merlin.

The people inside that tower were quite likely all dead now...

"We've got to-" Hermione's panic was cut off when another set of Death Eaters noticed them and attacked, drawing them back into the fight.

* * *

Hermione ended up fighting a Death Eater she recognised as Selwyn, having gotten separated from Harry again in the chaos.

"It is truly a wonder that a mere Mudblood has managed to survive this long" he sneered. "One would think that you would be dead by now!"

He was certainly doing his best to cause her death, judging by the liberal amount of Killing Curse being hurled her way...

Each time, she managed to either dodge them, conjure a physical shield or Summon something (and in two notable cases, someone- Death Eaters, obviously) to block them.

Overhead, she vaguely noticed Harry riding an _actual dragon_ (he had certainly come a long way from his Triwizard Tournament days...) setting fire to and knocking about giants and Death Eaters alike.

"Avada Kedavra!" Selwyn screeched, although this time, another Death Eater went bowling into him,, sending them both careening through the air and landing in the path of a giant who was currently stomping about madly in distress, as his hair was ablaze.

She turned away before she could see the inevitable _squish._

Hermione looked around to see Ginny standing there, shrugging.

"I meant to throw him into the path of the Killing Curse itself, but that works as well," she admitted.

The two witches stuck together as they made their way back to the castle.

Several duels were still going on and as they approached the Great Lake, they saw a particularly ferocious duel being fought on the other side of it.

Mad-Eye Moody versus six Death Eaters, four of whom were Walden Macnair, Bellatrix and Rodolphus Lestrange and Lucius Malfoy.

They could not help it.

They actually stopped to watch- as did others, defenders and attackers alike.

Moody was holding up quite well against six Death Eaters who all obviously wanted to kill him in rather painful ways.

If it were her against them, she would already be dead within the first two minutes.

Then, it happened.

They Apparated all around him and fired simultaneous Killing Curses that not even he could block.

Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody fell to the ground, dead, as Bellatrix let out a triumphant cackle.

Ginny looked at Hermione, mirroring her own expression of disbelief.

"Bloody hell," she and Hermione whispered in unison, horrified.

"HAHAHAHAHAHA! We killed the big, bad Auror! Now it is time for _us_ to kill more of _you!_ " she screeched.

At that, the people closest to them scarpered, not daring to fight against her or the other Death Eaters that actually managed to murder Mad-Eye Moody.

Hermione grabbed Ginny's waits and was just about to try Apparating them directly into the castle, when all of a sudden, the Death Eaters began to Disapparate, run and fly out of the Hogwarts grounds.

"Why the bloody hell are they retreating?" Ginny snarled, attempting to give chase, as others were doing.

Hermione kept close behind her.

 _"Why are they retreating now?"_ she thought, agreeing with Ginny.

Only a few minutes later, she had his response as all of a sudden, Voldemort's voice filled the air, speaking to everyone present.

 _"You have all fought well, but it shall be of no use. Even with all the help you are receiving, my forces still overpower yours."_

Hermione shuddered as she heard Voldemort's voice for the first time and glancing over at Ginny, she saw her having a similar reaction to hearing (this version of) Voldemort's voice.

 _"Potter, I know you are present. I shall give your side a respite of one hour. No more, no less. If at the end of that hour, you have not chosen to surrender yourself to me in the Forbidden Forest, you have chosen to let your allies continue to die for you. And this time, I shall enter the fight myself and no one in my path shall be spared. One hour, Potter."_

The grounds became eerily silent after that announcement.

"Well," Hermione felt her voice getting shaky as she spoke. "At least now we know why the Death Eaters just up and left..."

"Harry had better not give in to that monster!" Ginny shrieked angrily. "HE HAD BETTER NOT!"

"He will not," Hermione insisted. "We both know that he would not give up. Especially not after everything Voldemort has done to us all."

"We should go into the castle," Ginny nodded towards the people regrouping and heading into the castle some of whom (Hermione noted sadly) had bodies in tow with some of them being physically carried and others using spells to levitate the bodies.

As they walked, Hermione noticed with a jolt that one of the Springsteens was levitating a body in front of them.

"Excuse me Ginny..." Hermione inclined her head towards the Springsteen and body and Ginny nodded in understanding.

Hermione ran briskly to catch up.

"I... Andrina?" Hermione spoke hesitantly.

She glanced at the body and confirmed that it was indeed Isaac Springsteen.

"I see that you see that I am now a widow," Andrina spoke with an emotionless voice. "He was caught in the blast when the Astronomy Tower fell. I managed to fix up his body, but obviously, I cannot resurrect him..."

"I am _so sorry,_ Andrina," Hermione was sincere.

She truly liked both Andrina and Isaac as individuals and thought how they interacted with each other as a couple was rather sweet.

"Thank you. He wanted to come. We both did. We knew the risks," the Healer sighed. "now I have to plan a funeral when this is all over..."

"But you would not be alone with that. You have Leah, Rebecca and Jacob," Hermione pointed out.

Andrina sighed. "I know, I know... _wait a minute..._ "

Hermione looked up at the tone change of Andrina's voice.

 _"Why are the fairies here?!"_ they asked aloud in unison.

Hermione noted Roxy flying next to Harry as he walked; while Anahita, Athena and Rainer were some distance behind them.

Krystal had flown past them all and beat them into the castle.

"I can understand those young fellows from Harry's school being here as they are actually being trained to handle themselves in situations such as this, but..." Andrina looked confused.

"I know. They are not supposed to be here. Roxy especially. Harry specifically warned her to stay out of what were planning that led up to and included this..." Hermione said.

"Right... I... I must lay my husband down with the other deceased inside. Then perhaps I can help Madam Pomfrey out with healing any injuries. It would be a shame to let that set of skills of mine go to waste here."

Hermione nodded at the older woman, who smiled at her weakly, before continuing on.

Ginny caught up to her just then.

"Who was that?" the redhead asked her.

"Andrina Springsteen. She was Harry's Healer after the Diagon Alley attack that year he first went to Red Fountain. She got captured by Death Eaters later on, was rescued and ended up hiding in Tir Nan Og, where I met her. A delightful person. Her husband was too."

" _Was. Was_ a delightful person. How many people will we have to refer to in the past tense after today?" Ginny wondered.

Hermione sighed. "I honestly could not tell you..."

As they got closer to the castle, Hermione noticed that although the other fairies were already inside, Anahita still remained outdoors, looking as if she was waiting to talk to her.

"Go on ahead, Ginny," Hermione said. "I want to talk to Anahita for a bit."

"I understand."

Ginny left her behind, finding Fred and George amongst the crowd of people heading back to the castle and joining them.

"I am guessing that you wish to know why I, my sister and the others are here," Anahita spoke up as soon as she was within natural hearing distance. "First of all, before you ask, Camilla is safe. She remained behind with the other pixies."

Hermione let out a breath that she did not even realise that she had been holding.

"Thank goodness. How was she doing when you left her?" she asked the fairy.

"Honestly, not very well. She could feel your distress and it was pretty much sending her into hysterics." Anahita admitted.

Hermione hoped even more that she would be able to return to her pixie whole.

"So then... why _are_ you and the others here?" she asked.

"Roxy basically dragged us all here. She was going to go off on her own and... well, we could not in good conscience let her come here alone. I _do_ believe that it was Rainer though that said she would come back as a ghost just to haunt Roxy if she died here today..."

Hermione actually managed a chuckle at that one, but the fleeting moment of amusement quickly passed.

"Well, I guess we should get inside and regroup. I really want to talk to Harry before he even _considers_ going off to meet Voldemort." Hermione said.

"An understandable desire," Anahita nodded.

They walked together in silence until they crossed the threshold of the castle itself.

* * *

 ** _Review, folks! I really want to hear from you!_**


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